No Regrets
by Faulty Cameras
Summary: This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was supposed to be a one night stand, a no strings attached type of deal. This was so not what they signed up for. SS, AU.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, I don't own.

A/N- I really shouldn't be starting another story, but alas, this idea came into my head today and I just feel in love with it. This is an AU story and in it, Seth and Summer never met and lived in separate cities. Marissa is still alive, but in case anyone is wondering, she probably won't be with Ryan, because personally I don't like them together. Anyways, thanks to Meg for editing and for coming up with the title, it's awesome (though you know which one was my alltime favorite) and I'd love to hear feedback on this, please review!

* * *

Fuck Valentine's Day.

This was the thought that was going through Summer Roberts's head as she sat at the bar. She hated Valentine's Day with a passion. Okay, well not normally, just on the days that she didn't have someone to share it with. She hated it especially because she had wanted to spend the night watching depressing movies with her best friend and roommate, Marissa Cooper but noooo. Marissa had to be the person with the boyfriend and he of course had planned a romantic dinner with her at his place. Of course.

She meanwhile, had no one to spend the day with. When she realized this, she decided to go to a bar and get drunk. Very drunk. And she was looking for someone to sleep with. So far she was succeeding pretty well in the getting drunk department.

She sighed as she ordered another drink. She wanted someone. Just for the night. Surrounded by happy couples made her long for someone. Even if it was just to have some meaningless sex with.

She searched the bar for someone and saw no one. Everyone had someone by their side. That made it even worse.

She thought about getting up and leaving, then remembered she had no where to go. That and the fact that someone took a seat beside her was the reason that she stayed.

Apparently, Summer wasn't the only one who was lonely that night.

Seth Cohen had come to the bar with the same intentions as Summer. He didn't exactly consider Valentine's Day a holiday but it still wasn't a fun day when there was no one to celebrate it with. His parents were celebrating it. His brother and his girlfriend were celebrating it. He had no one. So he went to the bar more or less to drink a lot, then was going to go home and pass out.

He ordered another drink and took a seat at the bar. He had been walking around, trying to find someone who was single, but those type of people were apparently nonexistent on that night. He finally gave up on walking around and just decided to go and wallow in self-pity at the bar.

He, luckily, didn't have to do that for to long, considering he had sat down right next to Summer, who had taken a liking to him, despite the fact that she didn't even know his name. She looked him over before saying anything to him. He was tall and skinny, almost awkward looking. He wasn't dressed how the majority of the guys that she normally was with dressed, but in a more quirky way. She didn't mind though, she was totally willing to go for a totally different guy for the night.

Seth noticed the woman sitting next to him staring at him, so he turned to look at her. She was, to sum it up in one adjective, beautiful. It wasn't the most original adjective, but hey, he was considerably drunk. He had to admit it, he had picked a pretty good seat at the bar.

Then he realized that she probably had a boyfriend. He turned away from her, thinking that she wasn't looking at him, she was probably looking for her tall, blond, possibly actor boyfriend.

That was until he felt a hand on his arm. It was her hand.

"Hi," she said and found that her voice was kind of nervous. She didn't really do this often. Okay, well never. Have a one night stand with some random guy she didn't even know. She was more of the relationship type person while Marissa usually took care of the hooking up with random guys. She was lonely, drunk, and wanted to have sex, so she was taking a page out of Marissa's book for once. It seemed that the two were switched places for the night.

"Hey," Seth replied. He was really hoping that she did not have a boyfriend, because she seemed to be exactly what he was looking for, at least for the night.

She decided telling the guy her name was a good place to start. "I'm Summer Roberts."

"I'm Seth Cohen."

That lead nowhere. Silence fell between the two. Summer decided to just start talking.

"Okay, Cohen, listen up." she had only heard his last name, he mumbled his first name and asking him would waste time. "I'm going to be honest with you right now."

"It's Seth." This fell on deaf ears, considering she just continued talking.

"I'm pretty drunk right now. It's Valentine's Day and I'm alone. I have no one. I just really want someone to have sex with. Everyone else in this bar is unavailable, unlike you over here. So I was wondering if you would want to...well, have sex with me."

Seth listened to her say this, and truthfully only caught the tail end of what she had said, considering she was slurring her words together and he wasn't all that sober. He did catch the part of her asking him to have sex with her.

He thought about this over for maybe a millisecond. He honestly would be crazy to say no to her. Yea, he didn't know her, but it didn't really matter. They were both alone, on Valentine's Day, drunk. Plus, he hadn't had sex in a very long time.

"Yea, that sounds good to me," Seth agreed.

Summer smiled and leaned forward to him, giving him a kiss. "My place or yours?"

"My brother has his girlfriend at my place."

"My place it is," Summer said, grabbing his hand and leading him out of the bar. 

* * *

The whole cab ride to Summer's apartment had been them making out. Both were anxious to get to her apartment.

By the time they got out of the cab, Seth was ready to just get it on right there. He didn't really care too much at that moment. This had definitely been a really good idea.

They went into her building and of course they had to wait for the elevator to come, considering she lived at the very top level of the apartment. They continued what they had been doing in the cab while waiting and when the elevator came, they just moved along inside of there.

By the time they got to the door of her apartment, Summer had her shirt half hanging off. She had to pause in their actions to get her keys out of her purse. And of course, this happened to be the one night that they got buried somewhere in her overly large purse.

"I can't find the fucking keys," she said, frustrated and annoyed. She really wanted to go inside her apartment or pretty soon her neighbors were going to hear her and random bar guy having sex right in the middle of the hall. That would be a very bad thing, so the keys needed to be found. Finally she spotted them. "Aha!"

Then the difficulty came of putting them in the lock. She was not thinking clearly at all, due to the alcohol and this guy's hands being all over her body. She finally was able to unlock it, and opened the door, pulling him inside and closing the door behind him. 

* * *

Summer woke up the next morning, every part of her aching, especially her head. She groaned. How much did she have to drink last night? She couldn't even remember.

That was when she was realized that she was not wearing any clothes. Why was this? She strained to remember for a minute, making her head hurt just a little bit more.

That was when she remembered. She had pulled a Marissa Cooper. She had a one night stand. With...random bar guy. What was his name...Cohen! She remembered his last name at least. That was a good thing.

She tried to remember more about the previous night. She had little flashes here or there. There was something that she felt was important, that she should remember.

All this thinking made her head hurt. She pulled the covers up over her head, telling herself she would remember later. 

* * *

Two months later Summer remembered what she had forgot. Or actually, more like what she and the guy, Cohen, had forgot.

She groaned as she looked at the pregnancy test box resting on the counter, taking a seat on the closed toilet. This was not good, not good at all.

This wasn't supposed to happen. It was supposed to be a one night stand, a no strings attached type of deal. How come this happened to her? Marissa had done this tons of times before, but she wasn't pregnant. Maybe because she wasn't incredibly drunk, so drunk that both of them forgot what they had always been taught about using protection.

"Summer, are you almost done in there?" Marissa began pounding on the door impatiently. "I have to get ready for my date with Aaron."

"I'm having a bit of a crisis," Summer called back meekly.

This seemed to turn Marissa back into best friend mode. "What's wrong? Is everything okay?" She didn't receive a response from Summer. "I'm coming in there."

Summer didn't protest. She wanted her best friend there with her at that moment. She needed someone.

Marissa barged into the small bathroom, surprised to see Summer sitting on the toilet, crying. She wondered why until her eyes rested on something next to her on the counter.

She gasped and looked at Summer. "Are you..."

"I don't know," Summer responded, wiping her face.

"But who?" Marissa questioned. To her knowledge Summer hadn't slept with anyone since they had moved to Newport from New York City a year ago.

Summer sniffled, trying to stop her tears. "Do you remember how I was really hung over after Valentine's Day because I went to that bar? Well, alcohol wasn't the only thing that I found solace in. There was this guy and he was almost as drunk as me and he was single and pretty good looking. And then I decided to be like you for a night and just randomly hook up some guy."

"You seriously randomly hooked up with some guy?"

"Yes, Coop, aren't you following? Anyways, I guess we were really drunk because I think that we forgot to use protection."

"Aren't you on the pill?" Marissa asked.

"Well, no, not exactly. I haven't slept with a guy in over a year. I probably wouldn't have done it without protection on Valentine's Day but I was so drunk and so was he. Hence, the fact that there very well may be a fetus inside of me right now."

"Have you taken a test yet?"

"No. I can't do it. I mean, yea, kids are great, I love them. Doesn't mean I really want them, especially right now, considering I'm 23 and the father of this potential baby is some guy whose first name I don't even know!"

"Okay. You need to take this test. I'm going to call Aaron and cancel our date for tonight."

"No, Coop, don't do that for me."

"I think you need me here tonight, especially if that's positive." Marissa straightened up. "You take that and I'll go do just that."

Marissa left the room and went to call her boyfriend. After a brief conversation where she lied and told him she wasn't feeling well, she went and stood in front of the bathroom door. It seemed like an eternity before the door slowly started to creak open.

Summer stood, her hands holding the stick. She looked up at Marissa.

"I'm pregnant."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: It all belongs to the creators of The OC.

A/N-I had totally intended to have this up earlier, but then I had to bake a pie...so yea. But at least I've got it up now. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, I really appreciated it! And thanks to Meg for proof reading this.

* * *

Summer walked back into her apartment, all of her hopes that the pregnancy test being false shot down. The doctor had most definitely confirmed that she was pregnant.

She had thought for like a minute that it had been false. After she had taken the first pregnancy test, Marissa went and bought her two more. One of them had come back negative. That was when she had decided to go to the doctor, to find out which one was true.

Of course she was pregnant. That one that was negative was just a fluke. It was just her luck.

She was greeted by Marissa when she walked into the living room. She looked at her best friend.

"So..." Marissa said, knowing that she didn't have to finish the sentence.

Summer groaned as she took a seat next to Marissa on the couch. "What do you think? I think that they lie about those stupid pregnancy tests. They tell you they aren't totally accurate, giving people false hope that maybe, just maybe, you aren't pregnant. I bet doctors are behind all this, wanting to make even more money. They give you that hope that it might not be true, causing you to go to them, just giving them money even though they know it's already true. It's a conspiracy."

"Calm down Sum."

"I'm sorry. I just...I can't believe that this happened to me. I mean I don't have sex in a year and I wind up pregnant. You have sex all the time and you haven't had a kid yet."

"Sorry."

"Hey this is so not your fault. You weren't the one trying to be more like you and loosen up and just hook up with a random guy. Apparently I fail at these things."

"What are you going to do?"

Summer hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip. This thought had kept her up all night. She had thought about an abortion for maybe a minute before realizing that she could never ever go through with it. She was going to keep the baby and raise it. She wasn't sure if she was ready to be a mom yet but she had seven more months to work on that. She knew that even if this guy wanted nothing to do with this baby, she was still going to keep it and love it. "I'm going to keep the baby."

"I'll totally be there to help you."

"Thanks. I just need to find this guy."

"Have you figured out his name yet?" Marissa asked curiously. She hated to admit it, but she was totally curious about this whole ordeal. She definitely found it more interesting than The Valley or some show like that, not that she would ever tell Summer that.

"No. I don't know why I can't remember it."

"It might just have been the amount of alcohol in your body."

Summer groaned again. "Oh my God, this is such a mess."

"Hey, we'll figure it out."

"How? Please tell me how we are supposed to do that?"

"Did he say his name at all?"

"Yea, I just can't remember. I think that it started with a T. Or maybe it was B. Or S." Summer paused. "Or it possibly could have been R."

Marissa sat in deep concentration for a minute. She grinned. "I think I have an idea."

* * *

"Randolph?"

"No."

"Samuel?"

"Nope."

"Trevor?"

"No." Summer sat up from the position she had been lying in. "This is never ever in a million years going to work. You realize this right."

"It was working for a while."

"No, it wasn't considering I still haven't figured out his name."

Marissa threw the book she was reading the names from to the side. "Well at least you'll have the book for when the baby's born."

"Ugh." Summer laid her head back down. This was just too much. "That idea just wasted two hours of my time Marissa. Why do I listen to your ideas?"

Marissa sighed. "Well, I'm sorry, I thought it would work. What are we supposed to do now? Hey, what about the phonebook? We can see if you recognize any of the names. That'll probably be more helpful."

Summer just stared at her best friend. "Marissa. You couldn't have suggested that two freakin hours ago! We wasted that time reading random names trying to trigger my memory?"

Marissa just shrugged. "I thought you would have thought of that. That's the first thing I would have done."

"I clearly have not been thinking clearly lately!"

"Well, why don't we just go and look in the phonebook. I'm sure that will help."

"It better work," Summer grumbled, crossing her arms. "Or else I'm not listening to any ideas of yours ever again."

Marissa grabbed the phonebook and sat back down in front of the couch. She found the page with the listings for the last name Cohen. "Any of these look familiar?"

Summer took the book and looked at the names. She scanned them, not seeing anything remotely familiar. This was useless. "Well, great idea Coop, but nope. Nothing's coming back to me."

"Why don't we call every single on of them?"

"And say what? 'Hey, are you the guy who hooked up with some drunk girl at a bar on Valentine's Day? If so, we need to talk, considering I'm that girl and I'm having your child.'"

"I guess that works," Marissa shrugged. "Don't worry you'll think of something. Let's see, there seems to be a lot of people in Newport with the last name Cohen, so why don't we just pick random names off the list and call them until we get your guy."

"This is going to be awkward," Summer complained. Calling random people and asking them if they had sex with her was definitely not what she wanted to be doing.

"Do you want to find this guy or not?"

"Fine," Summer sighed, taking a look at the first name. She picked up the phone and started dialing the number.

After two rings, someone picked up. She heard a deep voice and was instantly happy, maybe this was the guy.

"Um, hi. So this might be kind of an awkward question, but did you by any chance meet someone at bar on Valentine's Day and go back to their apartment?"

"Is that a trick question. Of course I did. There's a bunch of emotional woman out there on Valentine's, plenty of woman for me to get it on with. I went to three different apartments that night."

Summer wrinkled her nose. "Uh, sorry, wrong guy."

"Hey, if you're looking for a guy, I am so available. You sound pretty hot."

Summer didn't even bother responding to that one. She just hung up the phone, rolling her eyes. She crossed the number off, then dialed the next.

"Hello?" It was also a man, though this one had a Russian accent. Summer thought for a minute. She didn't remember him having a Russian accent. Maybe he did and she was just way more drunk than she thought she was. She decided to ask the guy before completely ruling him out.

"Were you at a bar on Valentine's Day?" she decided to use a different approach than last time, being vague at first. She really didn't want to have another conversation like the previous one.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that," the voice replied, then abruptly hung up the phone.

Well, it was good to know that she hadn't been that drunk to not remember a Russian accent. It was bad because she was still not any step closer to finding the guy's first name.

This was getting frustrating. She crossed off another name a little harsher than she had wanted to, making it go through to the next page. She looked at another number and once again dialed.

"Hi," she started when someone picked up, luckily once again a male. "Were you with someone at a bar on Valentine's Day?"

"Me? No. I was totally on a really important business trip, which caused me to be away from my wife on the most important of romantic holidays," the man on the other end replied a little loudly.

"You don't have to scream, I'm not deaf," Summer said. The man was silent on the other end, though she could hear him walking. She was about to hang up when he started talking.

"Who are you and how do you know about my affair? I told Lenny from work to not say a damn thing after he found out. Did he tell you? Does he want to get some money or something from me? I will not succumb to blackmail! Tell him to find a different way." Summer then heard some screeching in the background that sounded distinctly like 'You're having an affair?'

Summer rolled her eyes as she hung up the phone. She did not have the time to get into the drama of that relationship, even though she had inadvertently caused the secret to come out.

She made four more phone calls, none of them helpful to her. She had called a house where a five year old had picked up the phone, one had been a girl, another had been an elderly man who thought she was his physician calling him back and started telling her about his abnormal bodily functions before she could hang up, and the last one had been a teenaged boy who, after clarifying that he was not the guy she was looking for, proceeded to ask her out on a date.

She was frustrated and angry. She was about ready to give up, deciding that this idea, like the other, was so not going to work out. She decided to give it one more try.

A man picked up the phone after the first ring. Summer had long since decided that being nice and just asking about Valentine's Day was not the way to go about things. That decision and the anger that was building up probably were what caused her to say what she did to the guy on the phone.

"Did I have sex with you on Valentine's Day?" It wasn't the best way to go about things but she was annoyed and bluntness seemed to be the way to go.

The man paused before he responded. "Did I have dark curly brown hair? Also was I tall and most likely wearing a t-shirt with an obscure band name on it that no one has ever heard of?"

Summer instantly perked up. This was getting closer. "Yes!"

The man sighed. "That's my son."

Well. That had not been what she was expecting for him to say. That was a more than a little awkward. "Oh. Well, I'm sorry that I asked you that then. Is there any way I could have the information to contact him? Oh, and most importantly his name."

The man gave her this information and didn't ask her any further questions. After saying thank you to him a million times and apologizing for the abrupt conversation starter, she hung up the phone. She looked at Marissa excitedly, wanting to burst out, but she was still on the phone. Summer motioned for Marissa to hang up so she could tell her.

"Yes. Thank you for that wonderful lesson. I will be sure to think before I act from now on," Marissa said before she finally hung up the phone.

"Who were you on the phone with?"

"A random woman, who apparently, is a Religion teacher at a Catholic high school, and she started scolding me for my actions. She was the first one that I called! I just spent a half hour listening to her ramble about what she teaches her students. She went off on me and I don't even know her name. She was trying to convert me I think. I'm not really too sure. That was one conversation I never ever wanted to have with someone. Please tell me you were more successful than me."

Summer smiled. "I got his name! It's Seth Cohen."

"You talked to him?"

"Well, no. I talked to his dad. That was a whole conversation I wish I wouldn't have had, but whatever. I know his name, I have his address!" She looked back down at the phonebook, with the names crossed off. "Hey, he was in here. I guess I would have actually gotten to him eventually. Oh well. All is right."

"Not exactly. You actually have to contact him now."

"Right. Should I call him?"

Marissa nodded her head. Summer lifted the phone back up and started to dial, then hesitated. She looked up at Marissa.

"What's wrong?"

"How is this phone conversation supposed to go? 'Hi, this is that girl that you slept with. I'm pregnant now with your kid'. I just don't think that works. Plus that doesn't seem like the type of conversation to be had over the phone."

"Yea. I guess that would be kind of awkward way to do it. Do you want to go over to his place? Talk to him in person?"

"Will you come with me?"

"Of course." Marissa stood up, pulling Summer to her feet. "Let's go."

* * *

Summer stood in front of his apartment door, nervously moving around. She didn't want to do this. She had never felt more nervous before in her life. She knew that this was something really big and she had no clue how this guy was going to react. Would he blow her off? Or would he want to help her?

She wasn't ready to do this. She couldn't. Nobody was answering the door anyways, so maybe that meant there was no one there. Just as she was about to say this to Marissa, someone-a female someone-opened the door.

She looked at the two of them, obviously confused."Can I help you?"

"Does Seth Cohen live here?" Marissa stepped in for Summer, realizing that they would be standing there all day if she left talking up to her.

"Yea, he's inside."

The girl lead them inside, where there were two boys sitting on the couch, one grumbling angrily and the other look smug. The one who was angry was Seth, the one she needed to talk to.

"Seth, there's someone here to see you."

Seth looked up at them. Summer could tell that it was taking him a minute to register who she was, but then it seemed to click in his mind. He got off the couch and went over to them.

Now that Summer was in front of him, she really didn't know what to do. Should she just blurt it out? Break it to him slowly? Turn and run out the door?

The last option seemed to be the best. She had halfway turned around before Marissa turned her back. She scowled. Why had she decided to bring Marissa? She was not allowing her to do what she really wanted to do, which was run.

"She wants to talk to you," Marissa supplied."In private."

So that's why she had brought Marissa. So she wouldn't have to talk. Hey, maybe Marissa could break the new so Seth and she could go and hide in the car.

She realized that she was not going to be able to do that after turning to her best friend to suggest this. Marissa just shook her head, indicating her answer to the unasked question.

Seth watched this exchange from where he stood, feeling awkward. He didn't really know what this girl was doing here and he wanted to know.

"Do you, uh, want to go to my room?"

"Sure. That sounds great, right Sum?" Marisa gave her friend a little shove towards him. "I'll wait here."

Summer gave her friend one last panicked look before following Seth to his room. She observed it, noting that it was pretty clean, that there were a few comic books strewn on the bed, and that the walls were covered in posters. She also spotted a plastic horse on his bedside table and was going to question it but decided that this probably wasn't the greatest time.

"So your friend said that you wanted to talk to me?"

"Um, yes. I know this seems kind of random and all, considering we don't really know each other that well-or at all really. At least I know your name now, that's an improvement from this morning."

"So you remember Valentine's Day? When you came to my apartment and we had sex?" Summer took a deep breath before continuing. "And how we made that decision-well not really decided, more like drunkenly forgot-to use a condom? Well, yea. I'm pregnant."

She watched as this poor guy processed the information. His eyes practically bugged out of his head and his mouth dropped open. "Wait, can you repeat that?"

"I'm pregnant."

"Okay, I just need to make sure that I heard you right," he ran his fingers through his hair, then looked at her. "Are you sure it's mine."

She picked up her purse and whacked him with it. "Yes, you asshole. I wouldn't be telling you if I wasn't totally sure and trust me I am, since you're the only guy that I've slept with in the past year."

"Wow." Seth, for once in his life, was at a lose for words. He was going to be a father. This was not how he expected his day to go.

"My thoughts exactly," Summer agreed. "Listen, you don't have to be involved or whatever. I just kind of thought you would want to know in case you were ever walking down the street and saw a kid that looked like you. So I think I'll just go."

She turned to leave when he grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"Wait a second. I am not going to be that ass who leaves you to raise the kid alone. I'm not that guy. Its not like you did this yourself-and if you did, well that would have been remarkable and I would turn you over to be scientifically studied. Even though we don't really know each other, there's going to be both parents in this kid's life."

Summer felt herself smile. At least she had picked a pretty sweet guy to randomly hook up with and be the father of her kid. She could have picked a total jerk who just told her to get away. She only had one question for him.

"What are we going to do?"

She watched as he thought this over. "That I don't really know"

* * *

Summer stared up at the ceiling. It was 2 o'clock in the morning, she had to get up in four hours for work, yet she couldn't fall asleep. The thoughts of what she and Seth had discussed were playing over and over again in her head.

After getting over the initial shock and everything, they had gone out. Seth wanted to tell Ryan, his brother who was living in the apartment with him, thinking that he could help him out. So together, they told him and then with Marissa, Ryan, and Ryan's girlfriend Taylor, they talked and discussed what they were going to do.

They had made the decision to get an apartment together. This way Seth could be around Summer. That was all they had really decided. The rest of the night was spent learning about each other. That was definitely a good thing, considering they were now going to be sharing an apartment and later having a baby together.

She had learned about his childhood. He had grown up in Newport, being ridiculed and mocked by his peers, until his family adopted his brother Ryan. He had dated a few girls before, but never really had anything serious.

Summer couldn't help but think, had she meet him when she was younger there was a very good chance that she would not have ever hooked up with him on Valentine's Day. When she had been younger, she had been shallow when it came to guys, but once she got to college, she realized that those things didn't matter-she realized that a lot of things that she had once cared about hadn't mattered.

As she rolled over onto her side, she still couldn't believe that she was going to move into an apartment with a guy she didn't really know, despite the hours they had spent together tonight. This was one of the days that she just wished that she hadn't moved from New York City to Newport.

She had a great life in New York. Her father was a plastic surgeon who spoiled his only child, mostly to make up for her drugged up stepmother, lack of actual mother, and the lack of him being around. It hadn't mattered to her so much when she was younger, she had her friends with her.

Her life had been great until a year ago, when her boyfriend broke up with her for one of her best friends, her father was remarrying once again, and just a build up of multiple problems. Marissa had suggested the move to Newport after wanting a change in her own life and Summer had grabbed the opportunity.

She wondered where she would be if she had never made the move. She wouldn't be pregnant, that much she knew. She wouldn't be moving into an apartment with a guy she didn't know.

She realized that the what ifs no longer mattered. She was in Newport, she was pregnant, and she was moving in with Seth Cohen. She had to face all this. This was not something that could just be disregarded. She didn't exactly know what was going to happen. All that she did know was that her life was about to get very interesting.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize I don't own.

A/N-Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and to Meg for editing!

* * *

Summer looked around at the apartment that she was going to be living in. Her new home. One word came to mind.

Ew.

Okay, it wasn't that bad. It was the fact that it was small. Really small, which really was a good thing because they used less energy for the environment and she totally advocated that but she already missed her old apartment and she hadn't even really moved into this one yet.

This is what she gets for letting Seth pick the apartment out by himself.

She knew she should have gone with him. Truthfully though, she still found spending time alone with him awkward. So she decided to avoid that as much as possible. She just told him to pick one out himself and that any one was fine, as long as it had two bedrooms.

And the apartment did have two bedrooms. Two very small bedrooms. Her bed basically took up her whole room.

"Hey Cohen?" she called to him. Despite now knowing his first name, she still preferred to call him Cohen. She wasn't too sure why.

"Yea?" he placed the box he had been carrying into the apartment down in the living room.

"What are we going to do with the baby when its born?" she asked. "Because there is seriously absolutely no room for it. There's barely room for me!"

"Don't worry we still have seven months to figure it out. Plus, your room is big enough to fit a crib in it. I think."

"A baby is going to need more than a crib."

"This was the best I could do at the moment with our given budget. This is only temporary."

"When I get as big as a whale, I will not fit in this tiny toy box you call an apartment," Summer complained.

"Don't worry. As I said this is temporary. Maybe once we talk to my parents they might be willing to help us out a little and we can get a larger one."

Summer stopped in her tracks. "Wait we have to tell your parents?"

"Of course. I mean I can't just randomly show up on their doorstep with a baby and you and be like 'Hey Mom, Dad, this is my kid and this is the mother of my kid, Summer. We slept together when we weren't dating and the kid's a result of this irresponsible action'. My parents would love that."

Summer shifted uncomfortably in the seat she had taken on the floor to sort through the boxes. She wasn't good with parents. Her last boyfriend's parents had not been fond of her at all and she hadn't really been too overly fond of them. And before that her boyfriend's mom had hated her, thinking she was too stupid for her son. She had certainly showed that woman when she had gotten into Columbia. And she had certainly told her that too-and that had been the end of that relationship.

Then she reminded herself this wasn't a relationship. It was-well she still hadn't figured out what to call it. She would get to those details later.

Seth seemed to notice how uncomfortable she was with the thought of meeting his parents. "Don't worry, we don't have to right away. Whenever you're ready."

"Do they know that you've moved out from your old apartment?"

"No, I haven't told them just yet. I'll get around to it eventually."

Marissa came into the apartment, holding a large box. "Summer what the heck did you pack in all of these boxes?"

"Those are probably all of my shoes."

"I thought that you were all about helping the environment and everything," Seth commented. "Wouldn't all of those shoes not be helping it?"

"Okay, I love the environment and my shoes." Summer shrugged. "I can have both can't I? Here Coop let me help you."

Seth stepped between her and Marissa. "Oh no you don't. No heavy lifting." He tried to take the box from Marissa and failed, dropping it to the ground. "Holy crap, you have a lot of shoes."

Summer just laughed at him. She tried to help him with the box, but he once again shooed her away. He finally accomplished picking up the box and bringing it to her room.

"That was sweet," Marissa commented.

"What? The fact that he tried to prove his manliness to us by trying to carry my shoes?"

"No, the fact that he wouldn't let you lift it. He's already looking out for you." Marissa smiled.

"Well, yea. I guess," Summer agreed.

"I give it until the baby's born."

"Give what?" Summer asked confused.

"You two will definitely be together by the time you pop the kid out."

"What are you talking about Coop?"

"There is no way the two of you are going to not to end up together. I mean you are having a baby and are now living together."

"That's ridiculous."

"No, it's not."

"Yea, it is because I totally am not restricting him. If he wants to date he can."

"Who can do what now?" Seth came back into the room.

"I was just telling Marissa that our relationship is not a romantic one, it is just for this baby. If you want to date other women than you can go right ahead. I just thought I'd make that clear now."

"Right, good to know. Are there more boxes in the car?"

"Yea, do you want me to come help you with them?" Summer asked.

"I thought we already went over the whole no heavy lifting thing."

"I don't like just sitting around, plus I don't think you can make it up here with some of those boxes," Summer said.

"Marissa, makes sure she sits. I think that she should rest."

Summer let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm pregnant not a porcelain doll!"

"Sit."

"C'mon Sum." Marissa sat down on the couch, the only piece of furniture in the apartment besides their beds. "It's more fun to watch him work."

"He's going to break something, I just know it," Summer said, not moving from where she was standing.

"Hey Seth, we're here to help," Ryan and Taylor entered the apartment.

"Does that make you feel better?" Seth questioned. "C'mon Ryan we have to get more stuff."

"Taylor come over here," Marissa gestured her to the couch as Seth and Ryan left the apartment. Summer finally decided to sit with Marissa and Taylor.

"So Taylor," Marissa started, "do you think that Seth and Summer are going to end up together."

Taylor nodded her head. "Most likely."

"See Sum, I told you!"

"Shut up Coop!" Summer grumbled, leaning back against the couch.

She didn't like them saying that they were going to end up together. She was not looking for a relationship right now, not even with Seth, the father of her kid. It was too weird of a time to be thinking of any type of relationship and she just wanted to focus on the present and the fact that she was going to be a mother in seven more months.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the couch, shifting in her seat. One of the first things she realized that they needed to do was get a new couch because this couch was no where near comfortable. They also needed a table and chairs for the kitchen. And more pots, pans, and plates. And silverware. They basically needed everything.

She wondered if she was in too far over her head with the whole idea of moving in with Seth. Maybe things would work out better if they were living in separate apartments. Maybe they could get apartments next door to each other.

But she couldn't live alone, there was no way she would have enough money, considering her dad wasn't giving her money until she turned 25, which was another 2 years away. And she couldn't ask Marissa to live with a baby. That would be unfair to her.

She sighed. Obviously they had picked the best option. It was just going to be an awkward situation for a while until they got to know each other better.

"Hey Summer, how would you like to meet my parents tonight?"

Summer sat up straight and opened her eyes, looking at Seth. "What?"

"Well, unfortunately they know considering Mr. Blabbermouth over here," he gestured towards Ryan, "went to visit them today and mentioned that Taylor was moving in with him now. The one time he decides to actually talk, it's a time he really shouldn't."

Summer glared at Ryan, who backed away from her. He might not have known her too well but she just seemed like the type of person to have a temper. Despite the fact that she was petite and pregnant, he was pretty sure she could give him a good whack. He had seen that bruise she had given Seth.

"He told them that I was moving in with you."

"Please don't tell me you said something else to them. Because if you did I will rip out your jugular."

"She suffers from rage blackouts," Marissa said before anyone could question it.

"Right, he didn't say anything else to them, so Ryan you are safe."

"I think I'm just going to go out to the car, get more stuff." Ryan turned and walked out the door.

"Hey, it won't be so bad meeting my parents. They're nice people. And we don't have to tell them you're pregnant if you don't want to."

"Please tell me how we're going to tell them that we're living together without explaining it to them?"

"So I guess we have to tell them then?"

"Wow, you guessed right."

"I called them and dinner is at 7. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yes," Summer sighed. This was not what she wanted to be doing that evening but she knew that they just had to get this over with.

Maybe they would get a better apartment now.

* * *

Summer fidgeted in the passenger seat. She hated the outfit that she was wearing, she felt incredibly fat at the moment, and she was annoyed with the music that Seth had playing in the car.

"Can we please put something else on?"

"No."

"We need to work on the music that you listen to."

"I think it's the other way around."

They sat in an uncomfortable silence again. Summer hated these. They seemed to be happening often to them. Anytime they were alone they happened. She wondered if this was how it was going to be with them living with each other. Never having anything to talk about. She needed to break the silence.

"So what are your parents names again?"

"Sandy and Kirsten," Seth replied.

Summer paused her thoughts and then remembered something. "Um...Seth? Your parents might know something is up."

"How would they know?"

"Well see, when I was on the quest to find out what your first name was, I started calling everyone in the phone book. And I called your dad and by the time I called him I was very frustrated and the first thing I said to him, before even saying hello was 'Did I have sex with you on Valentine's Day?'" Summer covered her face with her hands. How did she forget that she said that? She hadn't even been drunk when she called him.

Seth didn't seem to find that embarrassing at all as he started to laugh. Summer looked over at him, glaring at him.

"What the hell is so funny?"

"It's really not funny. It's...well, actually yea it is. You asked my dad if you had sex with him."

Summer crossed her arms over her chest. She still saw absolutely nothing funny about the situation. It just made everything ten times worse for her.

The rest of the car ride was spent in the excruciating awkward silence. They finally got to the house, something Summer wasn't sure if she should be thankful for or not. On one hand, it got her out of the car. On the other, it was bringing her to what could possibly be the most embarrassing moment of her life.

They walked into the house to see his parents standing, obviously waiting for them. They smiled at Summer widely, which she had to admit, frightened her just a little.

"Hey Mom, Dad," Seth greeted, kissing his mother on the cheek.

Summer noted how he treated his mom for some reason, something she had always done with guys when she was dating and meeting their parents. How they treated their family, especially their mom mattered to her.

Except that she wasn't dating him so she didn't know why she was judging how he treated his mom. She pushed this thought from her mind as Seth turned to her.

"This is Summer," he introduced her simply. She wondered if it was because he, much like she, couldn't figure out how to address each other just yet.

"Nice to meet you Summer, I'm Kirsten," his mom gave her a happy smile. "That's Sandy."

"Nice to meet you both," Summer squeaked out.

She caught Sandy looking at her weirdly. She wondered if he had made the connection that she was the girl he talked to on the phone.

"Well, dinner's already here."

"Mom's a mean take out orderer. She can order you just about anything and do it while she is working on something else. It's a skill that I can only hope I will one day acquire."

"In other words, Kirsten can't really cook," Sandy replied.

"Thanks guys," Kirsten rolled her eyes. "I can cook, I just make the choice not too."

Seth leaned over to Summer and faked whispered to her. "We don't trust her after she put one of our relatives in the hospital after a bad Thanksgiving meal."

"I heard that Seth. And it was not my fault that Paulie was put in the hospital, it was his mom's stuffing. I just supplied the cranberry sauce."

"That was the last time we were invited to go there for Thanksgiving. We have catered ones from now on," Sandy contributed to this conversation.

"Guys," Kirsten exclaimed. "This isn't fair."

"No, what's not fair is you making us suffer through undercooked meals," Seth said as they got to the table. He pulled out the chair and gestured for Summer to sit down in the chair.

She smiled at him. She caught the look that Sandy and Kirsten exchanged too and she wondered what they were thinking. Did they think that they were dating? Did Sandy figure that she was the one who called the one day? Did they have any clue about the news that they were about to get?

Summer couldn't help but feel nervous. After meeting these people, she honestly wanted them to like her. Plus the whole they were going to be grandparents to her kid kind of contributed to that factor. She noted that her hands were shaking slightly and she tried to make them stop.

"Go ahead and dig in," Sandy said, gesturing towards the containers on the table. "It's all safe since Kirsten only touched them to put them on the table."

Kirsten didn't even bothering replying to this one, just started putting food onto her plate. The four started to make small talk and somehow they managed to avoid all the talk of how she and Seth knew each other.

Kirsten stood up and started gathering the dishes. "They won't let me touch the food but they make me do the dishes."

"But that's what dishwasher's were invented for," Seth piped up.

"Except our dishwasher is broken and your father insisted on trying to fix it himself and broke it even more. So now we have to do the dishes the old fashioned way."

"I'll help you," Summer volunteered. She hated when she was over at places for dinner and was unable to help.

"Summer," Seth said in what she assumed was a warning tone to not help with the dishes.

She glared at him. Sure, the over protectiveness of her was cute earlier when they were moving, but now it was just plain annoying. Dishes weren't a big deal. If this was going to be what she put with for the next months then she was pretty sure she might cause bodily harm to him. "Seth. I can do dishes."

"Okay, just looking out for you."

"I can look out for myself," Summer stated, ripping the plate out of his hands.

She knew that his parents were watching with interest and she couldn't really blame them. She was pretty sure if she had been on the other side of this conversation that it would have interested her.

"I know," Seth replied. "But I just want to make sure you're being careful."

"Of course I am," she rolled her eyes. She couldn't help but be angry at him for his comments. Of course she was going to being careful, she was not an idiot.

"Summer, you shouldn't get worked up. I'm sorry I was just trying to be considerate."

"Like I told you earlier, I'm not a porcelain doll, I'm just pregnant."

Immediately after the words came out of her mouth, she realized what she had just said out loud and who she had just said it in front of.

Kirsten was the first one to speak. "You're what?"

"Great job Summer."

"Shut up Cohen, it's your fault, you got me all worked up," Summer argued.

Sandy held up his hands."Stop arguing and please inform your mother and I what is going on."

"Well, yea. You heard her. She's pregnant."

"With your kid?"

Seth nodded his head. "Yea."

"I didn't even know that you were dating someone," Kirsten said, taking a seat. She was in shock that this conversation was even going on.

"Um, well we're kind of not," Summer took over for Seth.

It seemed realization dawned on Sandy at that moment. "You're the girl who called here two weeks ago?"

Summer felt her cheeks redden. "Yea. Did I mention how sorry I am about that? And how awkward I felt after that?"

"Back up for a minute and explain all of this to us."

"Basically, we slept together on Valentine's Day. We didn't know each other before then and well, we-or at least I know I was-drunk," Summer informed them, feeling really weird telling them this. "And I'm pregnant now. That's basically the whole story."

"And you two don't even know each other?"

"We do now," Seth spoke up.

Sandy shook his head at his son. He never thought that this would happen to Seth, of all people. "Do you realize how irresponsible this was?"

Both nodded their heads in unison. Seth loved his dad but sometimes he hated how he managed to always make him feel like a little kid again.

"And you," he turned his gaze to Seth, "are taking full responsibility for your actions right?"

"Of course. We got an apartment together-"

"A small apartment," Summer interjected.

"And I'm going to live with her for now, at least until she has the baby. We haven't really figured out what we're going to do after, but we'll figure it out then."

"And you two aren't dating?" Kirsten asked.

Summer shook her head. "No."

"Well...this is definitely an odd situation you two have gotten yourselves in."

"We know Dad, trust us."

"But Seth, I will say I am proud of you that you aren't leaving her to do this alone."

A silence passed over the four for a few minutes. Summer knew that they were all reflecting on the news that had just been said. She nudged Seth with her foot. She wanted to see if there was a way to get a bigger apartment, like he had said. Seth knew what she meant too, lucky for her.

"Dad, do you think there is any way you can maybe help us get a bigger apartment?"

"What's wrong with the apartment that you two just moved in to today?"

"It's a toy box," Summer said.

Sandy shook his head. "I don't think we can do that."

Kirsten looked at her husband. "What are you talking about Sandy? We can definitely help them."

"Oh, I know we can help them. I don't want to help them. I think that they've gotten themselves in this and that they are their own. They're adults now, their going to be parents, they should be able to do this themselves."

"You won't help at all?"

Sandy shook his head. "No."

Seth sighed. He had a slight feeling that his dad might react like this but he hadn't wanted to tell Summer that. He had wanted to give her some sort of hope that he was going to be able to get them out of the small apartment. Already he had failed on that one.

Summer looked at him. She just finally realized that they were on their own. That they were going to be parents, people who could no longer depend on their own parents. This was not a reality she wanted to face but she knew that they were going to have to face. They were going to have to stay in the small apartment and make it work. They were going to have make all the awkward silences and conversation and all that work. It was definitely new territory that she was pretty sure neither had ever been at.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Anything that is recognizable I don't own.

A/N-Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter and thanks to Meg for editing.

* * *

Summer groaned as she woke up to the beeping of her alarm. She hated that stupid thing and she had ever urge to just throw it across the room.

After hitting it several times before she actually got the button, it shut off. She laid in her bed for a few minutes, her eyes open, and just thought.

It had definitely been an interesting past week. She was adjusting to living with Seth, which was fine, except for the fact that she had never lived with a guy before and she was pretty certain he had never lived with a girl before. From an outsider's perspective, the way they were acting around each other was probably hilarious, but to Summer it wasn't. She still couldn't help but feel incredibly weird every time she talked to Seth. It might have been the fact that they had been so busy that past week with the apartment and their own lives there hadn't been much talking.

Finally, after several minutes of lounging in her bed, she got up. She thought about going to take a shower, then heard the shower running, realizing Seth was inside. She blushed at the thought of how she accidentally walked in on him yesterday forgetting that he was in there. That had been so awkward on so many different levels. He had shrugged it off like it was nothing but she was still just a little freaked out by what she had done.

She stumbled out of her bedroom that was still a mess as she hadn't bothered to unpack any of her boxes (she was still holding on to a little hope that his parents would call and tell him that they rethought everything and were going to get them a bigger apartment). She went into the kitchen and to the fridge, hoping to find something to eat. No such luck on that one, considering there was a carton of eggs and a container of orange juice inside with nothing else. When she closed the fridge she noticed a piece of paper with a note scribbled on it, asking her to pick up groceries since her work was so close to the store.

Oops.

She sighed and decided to settle for making some coffee. She did this and just as she sat down at the table with the steaming mug, a hand reached out and pulled it from her.

"Hey!" she exclaimed as she turned to see Seth raising the mug to his lips to take a sip.

"No coffee," he stated simply, taking the seat opposite her.

She glared at him. "One cup isn't going to do anything."

"Doesn't matter Summer. I thought we discussed this already."

Sumer crossed her arms over her chest. It wasn't like she couldn't live without coffee, she just really loved that first morning cup. It gave her a nice awake feeling. She felt sluggish without just that one cup.

Summer knew that she was losing this battle though. One thing that she had learned about Seth in this past week was that he was definitely really protective of her and was watching out for her. So this was just another thing on the list of things that he was not going to let her do to watch out for her and the baby.

"But you're seriously going to sit here and drink it in front of me?"

"Yep," Seth replied as he brought it up to his lips again. He placed it back down then got up to go to the fridge. After looking, he turned back to Summer. "Did you miss the note on the fridge?"

"Ah, yea, sorry about that," Summer said. "I guess I didn't go in the fridge at all yesterday."

"That's fine, I get out of work early today and can go," Seth paused. "Hey what are you doing tonight?"

Summer thought about this question. It was a Friday night, a night that she and Marissa and Marissa's current boyfriend would go out or she would go out with her friends from work. She no longer had the desire to go out with anyone and she was pretty sure Seth would not let her do so anyways. Marissa would be totally understanding of this, but her friends Reagan and Abbey were a lot less understanding-especially considering she had told no one except her boss about her pregnancy. They were relentless when she said she couldn't hang out with them, especially on the nights where she told them she would come. Of course, several weeks ago, way before this whole ordeal had unfolded, she had agreed to do something with them.

"Well, I was supposed to go out with Reagan and Abbey," she started and received a look from Seth, "but don't worry I'm not going out with them anymore. So I don't think that I'm doing anything."

"Do you want to hang out here maybe? I can make dinner for us and we can just watch a movie or something? You know, get to know each other even more."

Summer smiled at him. "Sure, I'd really like to do that."

She had to admit that she was looking forward to spending the night with him. She felt that it was something that was needed to be done.

* * *

Have you ever had that annoying insect buzzing directly in your ear and been unable to get rid of it, no matter how many times that you slap it away?

That was how Summer felt with Reagan and Abbey.

She really did like them, they were awesome friends. They were the first two people she met when she moved to Newport and they had taken her under their wing. She appreciated them for that.

They were just always there at work. Summer would try to be productive and then they would come along and start to have a conversation about something totally random and not relating to their work at all. They did this every single day, without fail.

Summer had been hoping that they would finally start to actually work instead of just going around, gossiping about everyone. Their boss would eventually find out and probably threaten to fire them-unless one of them had some sort of blackmail on him, which it wouldn't really surprise Summer if they did.

She had no luck with them not coming over to her. At about 1 o'clock-same time everyday-Reagan and Abbey sauntered over to her desk.

"Hey Summer," they greeted simultaneously.

"Hey Reagan, Abbey," Summer replied, not looking up from her work. Maybe if she ignored them, they would go away.

"So are you coming out with us tonight?" Reagan questioned.

"We have some big plans for tonight," Abbey added.

"We were thinking of picking up some cute guys too, it can't hurt to do that."

Summer almost laughed. That was a funny statement to her, since that thought was exactly what had gotten her in this situation.

"Are you coming?"

"I don't think I'm going to go tonight. I'm going to hang out at home," Summer replied.

"With Marissa?" Reagan asked. "But you and Marissa never stay home! Ohmygosh is something wrong?"

Summer sighed, finally looking up at them. She was going to have to tell them or else they would be bothering her all day and they were the last two people she wanted to deal with. At least they would probably tell everyone and explain every little detail so Summer wouldn't have to.

"I actually do have something I want to tell you."

Both perked up and seemed to come closer to her. "What is it? Is there something seriously wrong?"

"Well no, not exactly…I'm pregnant," Summer blurted out.

She watched as the audible shock came over the two.

Reagan was the first to speak. "You're…what?"

"I'm pregnant. Almost four months."

"But…how?"

"Do I seriously have to go over that Abbey?"

"No, I just mean…you haven't been with any guys since you moved here."

Summer rolled her eyes. "Thank you for reminding me of that Abbey."

"Seriously Summer. You didn't like have one of those moments of 'I'm never going to get married or have kids so I should just go and get implanted' or something like that right?" Reagan asked.

"No! Okay, listen. It was Valentine's Day and I was lonely and I got drunk and well, I slept with this guy."

"You didn't! You've got to be joking with us!"

"No, I'm totally serious."

"You slept with some random guy? I cannot believe you Summer Roberts, you badass."

"Well, if that was supposed to be a badass moment, then it failed miserably as I ended up pregnant."

"Do you know who the guy is?"

"Yea, his name is Seth. I'm living with him."

"Shut up!"

"Yea, I moved in with him last week."

"And you didn't tell us?" Abbey exclaimed. "I can't believe you're dating and living with this guy and having his kid and you didn't tell us!"

Summer winced as she heard the word 'dating'. She had yet to explain to anyone the whole situation that she was really in and this was the first time she would be doing the explaining of everything. She figured she should test it out, especially before she called her father (something she was procrastinating on to the extreme) and Reagan and Abbey were perfect to do that on.

"Well, we're not dating exactly. Okay, not dating at all. We just hooked up that one night and since I'm pregnant, we decided to move in together."

"Oh."

"So you're not dating?" Abbey asked.

"No. It's a strictly platonic relationship, we're just living together. We have separate rooms and everything."

Reagan and Abbey seemed to contemplate this answer for a minute. Reagan was the first to speak.

"Don't take this offensively or anything Summer but that's just weird. That you two aren't dating and are having a kid together? I've never really seen a weirder situation than that."

"But um, I guess we should wish you a congratulations on the baby," Abbey shrugged.

"We'll see you later. Have fun at home with your not boyfriend or whatever he is."

They walked away and she almost immediately saw them go up to someone else. She could see the whispering and the pointing to her. She sighed. They were going to give the whole story about her non-boyfriend and everything. More likely than not, it was going to end up twisted in some way, which happened to most Reagan and Abbey gossip, despite the fact that they usually got it directly from the source. Well, hopefully something more interesting would come up soon.

* * *

Summer opened the door to the apartment and was hit with the most delicious smell of pancakes. She walked into the kitchen to see Seth standing at the stove, pancakes on a plate next to him and bacon being cooked.

"What is this?"

Seth looked up at her. "Dinner. Well if you want to get real technical it's breakfast but at dinnertime. I hope you don't mind."

"No, it smells delicious."

"I was just thinking about pancakes all day at work and then I decided to make some because I personally think that having breakfast for dinner is fun," Seth shrugged. "If you want, I can make you something else."

"No way, I really want pancakes now." She walked over to the fridge and was pleased to see that it was fully stocked with other things besides orange juice and eggs.

"They're done if you want."

Summer grabbed something to drink, then sat down at the small table. She piled some pancakes on her plate as Seth sat down with another plate, this one filled with bacon.

"Geez, did you take enough pancakes?" Seth teased.

"Hey. I'm eating for two. I can eat as many pancakes as I want," Summer said, deciding to put one more on her plate. She took a bite of the pancake. "Plus these are delicious pancakes."

"Thanks."

"I thought that no one in your family could cook."

"Well my mom can't to save her life and my dad is pretty handy with the grill. I more or less learned to cook one summer when I went to Portland. And in college when I first moved into an apartment with Ryan and realized that we did not have the funds to support the whole take out habit my mom had started."

"Why'd you go to Portland?" Summer asked curiously, shoving more pancakes in her mouth.Seth looked down at his plate, almost like he was embarrassed, Summer couldn't really tell. It was several more minutes before he looked up again and even then he didn't look directly at her.

"Well, it was really stupid actually. It was after the first year that we had taken Ryan in and he was really my first friend I guess. I was kind of a major loser before he came from Chino. We had an awesome year and everything and I actually had a friend for once. Then there was this whole major issue with one of his old girlfriends and he had to go back to Chino and I kind of freaked out. I didn't want to go back to the way things had been before, so I just decided to up and leave. I decided to sail to Tahiti."

"Did you make it to Tahiti?"

"No. I ran out of snacks and freaked out, sold my boat and bought a bus ticket to Portland where my friend Luke lives."

"Hm." Summer took this new information in. She wasn't going to lie, she was intrigued by what he was telling her. She liked learning more about him, more of what he was like when he was younger. She felt very compelled to ask him for pictures of him as a baby, but that was only because she really wanted to see what he looked like for purposes of what their kid might look like.

"I learned many things that summer, mostly how to use a grill and how to cook pancakes."

"I'm glad that you learned to make pancakes because these are really good."

"I'm glad that you like them."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes but for the first time since they had known each other it wasn't awkward at all. It almost felt better.

* * *

"This one?"

"Ew."

"Umm…how about this one?"

Summer rolled her eyes. "Cohen, I told you when we left, no movies that relate to comic books or anime or whatever else it is that you like."

Seth sighed. "Fine. Why don't you just pick the movie then?"

"I will," Summer smirked. "And I already did."

"What movie did you pick?"

Summer held up the one that she had been holding on to the whole time that they had been in the video store. Seth groaned when he saw it.

"The Notebook? Seriously? I am not watching that."

"You just told me that I could pick the movie. I pick this movie."

"Fine but next time I'm picking and I am not making any promises that I am going to pick a movie that you like."

"This movie is amazing. Or at least I think so."

"Let's just get it."

Summer turned around and was surprised to see Abbey and Reagan standing there.

"Hey Summer!" they greeted in their usual simultaneous way.

"Um hi guys. What are you doing here?" she asked. It was unusual to see them in a video store, of all places, especially when they were normally out and about.

"We decided that we were going to hang out at home, considering not only you dumped us but everyone else did," Reagan replied in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Oh sorry about that."

"Yea, mhmm."

Abbey looked at Seth who was standing behind Summer. "Is that the guy?"

"What?" Summer looked at Seth. "Oh yea that's him."

The two moved closer to him, as if they were examining him or something. She had to admit, if she was Seth than she would be more than a little freaked out by this whole exchange. He seemed to be pretty calm about the whole thing, which was good, considering the two girls were firing questions at him.

"Do you think you and Summer will end up married?" Reagan questioned.

This snapped Summer's attention back to the two. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you live together. You're having a baby. So what if you're not dating? I can totally see the two of you falling in love and ending up married eventually."

"Plus, the odds of you two not ending up together are very slim. I mean look at Ross and Rachel. They totally ended up together, it just took them having a baby to realize they were meant to be."

"Shouldn't you guys be going to rent a movie or something?" Summer asked, her teeth clenched.

"Oh we already did that. We just saw you and decided to come and meet the guy," Reagan replied.

"What movie are you two getting?"

"Oh, look The Notebook!"

"Ohmygosh, it's already starting! That's a romantic date movie, how adorable."

"See, it's only a matter of time before you guys get together."

"We have to get going now but Summer, we'll see you Monday and we hope to see you around sometime Seth." Reagan winked at him.

"And enjoy your movie," Abbey stated before turning away and following Reagan.

Summer turned back around and grabbed the movie that Seth had been holding minutes before. "Forget it. It's your pick. I do not want to watch The Notebook tonight or ever again really."

"So who were those…very interesting people?" Seth questioned.

Summer sighed. "Unfortunately the bimbos that I call friends. I work with them and today I told them that I was pregnant and all that's happened. I'm sorry about them. They can't help jumping to conclusions, they love gossiping. Today I was the hot topic until some poor guy named Ray did something absolutely ridiculous. I don't even really remember what it was exactly but it at least took over the gossip about me." She paused. "Though most likely, there will be more gossip on Monday about how we're now dating or something. Or better yet, they'll be telling people we're engaged and the weddings next week or something absolutely ridiculous like that."

"They seem like lovely people."

"Once you get past all the gossiping they do they are really great. We have a lot of fun together. It's just…"

"The whole them talking about us dating and most likely already calling anyone who cares about it?"

"Yes." Summer blushed at how stupid Reagan and Abbey were. Things were starting to be okay with Seth and now that they had said that, she already felt that things were getting awkward again.

She just couldn't win.

"You sure that you want to get this movie?" Seth asked as they approached the counter.

"Yea. I really do not feel like watching anything to do with romance. This will do just fine."

* * *

Summer hated herself at the moment. She had the chance to get The Notebook. She could be watching Allie and Noah have the hottest kiss ever but no. She was stupid and felt the need to get whatever movie Seth had wanted to get.

Which of course, just happened to be scary. She didn't do well with scary movies. She wasn't the person to watch them. She preferred everything but horror movies.

She was practically hiding underneath the blanket she had draped across her legs when the movie started. She was trying to hide her fright from Seth, not wanting to him to think that she hated the movie (which she did) so she just pulled it up when she got really freaked out.

Then she gave herself away when she gave a little squeak. Seth looked over at her.

"Hey do you not want to watch this anymore?"

"No," Summer replied, though she temporarily averted her eyes from the screen. "I think I'll be fine. It's just a movie right?"

"Are you sure? I can turn it off if you want me too."

"No, you want to watch it. I'll be fine." Summer looked at the screen again, then quickly focused her eyesight at another point in the room. She hated that she couldn't watch scary movies but she had always hated them. She was pretty sure that nothing was going to change that.

She watched several more minutes and was pretty sure of the minutes that she watched, she basically jumped every single second. Then Seth slid his arm around her, pulling her close to him.

She had to admit, this made her feel oddly comforted to have him let her be close like that. It didn't make her any less frightened by the movie but it made her feel slightly better to have him near her.

* * *

Seth looked at Summer. He was almost positive that she was asleep now.

They were lying on the couch together and had been like that for nearly an hour. The movie had apparently freaked out Summer more than he thought it would have. She refused to go into her bedroom. Seth would have suggested going into his room but the events of earlier tonight would have just made that incredibly awkward and he was afraid it would have freaked Summer out way more than the movie had. He wasn't about to invite himself into her room, so somehow the decision to stay on the somewhat uncomfortable couch for at least a little while came about.

They had spent the last hour talking to one another about different things that had happened in their life. Silly little things that they just wanted to know, like when they were first kissed (for Summer it had been six and Seth rather painfully admitted it hadn't been until he was almost 17) and more about their families. It was a nice hour of just talking and learning more about one another.

Now Summer was asleep and Seth was still awake, partially due to the uncomfortable couch and partially due to the fact that Summer was half on top of him. There was no way that he was going to attempt to move himself to go to his bed-plus Summer didn't seem like she would be the most pleasant person if woken up. So he settled for just kind of lying there.

He looked down at Summer again, her long brown hair spilling onto his chest, which she was using as his pillow. Her legs were somehow entwined with his own, something he wasn't really sure how it had exactly happened. It wasn't the most comfortable position to be in but he didn't mind it too much. At that thought something finally hit him.

He had fallen for Summer.

He couldn't believe that he hadn't really realized it before this moment. It had been three weeks since he had first found out she was pregnant and somewhere in that timeframe he had started to develop feelings for her. They hadn't been strong at first but once they moved in together they had started to grow. He had kind of expected it to happen. He was living with her and she was having his baby.

He just wasn't sure that she wanted him to like her in that way. The way she acted after they met her friends at the video store and the comment she made once before about him dating other women. She seemed to not really have any romantic interest in him at all or at least not then. Currently, it was a one-sided liking on his part.

He wondered if anything would develop between the two. He had thought about this since the day that he had found out he was going to be a father, if he was going to possibly gain someone he loved out of this too. He wondered if it could happen, if maybe she would eventually have feelings for him too.

What he did know was that only time would tell if anything was going to happen.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, I don't own.

A/N-Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and to Meg for editing.

* * *

Summer sighed happily. She was enjoying herself, mostly because it was the day she got to leave work at 2 o'clock instead of her normal 5. She had full intentions of going home, getting in her comfy clothes and just watch TV with Seth.

She and Seth had decided to do hang out every Friday since the first night they had done so three weeks ago. They were still learning more about each other. It was nice to be able to spend this time together.

She was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't realize that someone was coming towards her. She ran into them, the cup of coffee that was in the person's hands spilling all over the person.

"Oh God, I am so sorry." Summer said.

She looked down at the person that she had just knocked over, realizing that it was Jude. She had talked to him a few times, mostly small talk but she knew him kind of.

"That's okay Summer. I should have been looking where I was going," Jude replied, standing up.

"No, no, it's my fault, I'm such a whale that I probably just knocked you over," Summer said, gesturing to her stomach, that was still a small bump. It was beginning to be more noticeable than it had been before though.

Jude rolled his eyes at her, something that Seth did often when she mentioned that she was fat or large. "You're not huge Summer. You look really great actually."

Summer smiled at him for saying this. "Thanks. I am really sorry about your shirt."

"Ah that's okay. I have a spare at my desk," Jude joked. "So…how is everything in your life right now? Going well?"

Summer nodded her head. She had spilled her heart out to Jude a few weeks ago, when she was overwhelmed with all the changes that were happening in her life. He had been really nice and listened to her. It was a nice change in things, considering most guys didn't listen to what she had to say. "Yea, it's a lot better. I'm adjusting well to living with Seth and he's doing well with me. So we've worked it all out."

"Are you two, uh, dating?" Summer blushed slightly. In her anguish, she had expressed how much easier it would be if she and Seth were a couple. That had been really embarrassing now that she looked back on it, considering he was definitely not interested in her. She had after all told him that he could date other girls, something she was certain that he was going to take full advantage of sometime soon. He had yet to but she knew he would.

Summer, on the other hand, was going to be dateless forever. That's what she realized. No one wanted to date someone who was pregnant and living with the father of the baby even though they weren't dating. And she figured that once the baby was born, she wasn't going to ever date again. No one wanted someone with baggage and a kid fell under that category. So she was glad to at least say that she had a few good dates while it lasted.

"Summer? You still there?"

"Oh yea. Sorry. No we're not dating. And things are fine that way. I told Seth that he could date other girls, so he's probably looking."

Jude raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Well, you probably want to get going. I have to find a new shirt anyways." "I really am sorry about that," Summer apologized again. Jude started to walk away, then turned back around to Summer.

"We should hang out sometime. I mean, if you have time."

Summer nodded her head. "Yea. We will."

Jude waved a final goodbye to her. Summer walked out of the building, happy to be on her way home.

* * *

Summer walked into the empty apartment, glad to have a few moments to herself. She liked having Seth around, he was really sweet and helpful, but he had a tendency to hover. She was thankful that he was protective of her but the hovering was getting annoyed. She pressed play on the answering machine that they had set up and started to listen to the message.

"Hey Summer. So I know that you're off from work early today so I was wondering if you could do me a favor and cook something for dinner? My dad called me earlier and he says that he and my mom want to come and see our apartment and have dinner. I obviously don't have time to cook or anything and no money to buy takeout, so I was thinking that you could. That's it. Just-"

Summer rolled her eyes. Of course the machine had cut him off. It always did. She expected the next call to be from him also. "Sorry, the machine cut me off." Sure enough, she was right.

"So just make sure you're careful and everything. Try not to burn the apartment down all right? Tell the baby I said hi. And if you can attempt to kiss your stomach for me too…well I want immediate notification if you actually succeed."

Summer sighed. Her relaxing day was now a thing of the past. She had to clean up the apartment and then attempt to make dinner. She hoped that his parents liked macaroni and cheese because that was all she was capable of making.

"Summer, this is Marissa. Okay, I got a message from your dad on my cell phone today since he couldn't reach you or something. I thought you told him you changed your number?" Summer felt her eyes grow big. Her dad? Why was he calling? "Anyways, he said that he has some sort of business conference here, so he's stopping over and wants to have dinner with you. What am I supposed to do?"

Summer couldn't believe that her dad was in Newport Beach. He hated California. It was where her mom had run off to with her yoga instructor or Pilates instructor or whatever he was. That was one of the reasons why he had hated that she moved to Newport and one of the reasons that they barely talked to one another anymore. And now? He was coming to visit her? She hadn't talked to him in probably four months. She remembered the last time she had talked to him. It had been Valentine's Day right before she had gone off and gotten drunk and impregnated. Well. This was bound to be an interesting evening.

* * *

Seth walked into the apartment, happy about the way his day had gone. It hadn't been an overly stressful day at work and his parents were coming over to talk to him and Summer. Their relationship had been strained slightly in the past few weeks, ever since he had told them that Summer was pregnant, so he was happy that they were coming over. He wondered what Summer had decided to make them for dinner.

He walked into the kitchen and was surprised to see that it was empty. There was some sort of…goop on the stove and something burnt next to it that slightly resembled cookies. Summer was no where in sight.

His first instinct was to panic. Had something happened to her when she was cooking or cleaning and had to go to the hospital? Wouldn't he have received some sort of call about that? He decided to not jump to conclusions just yet and went to her door, pounding his fist on the door.

"Summer? Are you in here?"

"Yea, Cohen," was the response he got.

He breathed a sigh of relief. He opened the door without waiting for a response from her. She was sitting on her bed, her hair pulled back in a bun with strands flying out, flour wiped across her cheeks and much of her clothing, and tears coming out of her eyes.

"What's wrong Summer?" he asked, immediately thinking of all the horrible things that could have happened.

"I-I can't cook!" Summer sobbed.

Seth stared at her, blinking a few times. "Is that all?"

"Is that all? Is that all?! I can't even make macaroni and cheese! How am I supposed to be able to take care of a kid if I can't even make the simplest meal known to mankind?"

"Learn how to cook?" Seth suggested.

"I know how to cook!"

"Not well apparently," Seth muttered, but she didn't hear him.

"And my dad and your parents are coming over and I haven't even told my dad about everything that's gone on since I haven't even spoken to him in the last four months."

"Wait a minute…your dad?" Seth paled. "I have to meet your dad tonight?"

"Yes and we have to feed them that crap that I cooked out there!"

"We're not going to feed them that. They would probably die from it or something."

Summer glared at him. "You asshat! They would not. It would be fine."

Seth looked around confused. What he had done? She had just been insulting her own food. Then he remembered-mood swings. Oh what a joyous time in his life. She was getting worse as the days went on, he realized. "I'm sorry. It's just…that's not edible food. It was a nice attempt at cooking though."

"It wasn't an attempt. I told you that I know how to cook!"

"Well, maybe you just need to learn how to get better and then we can feed it to actual people."

So that had probably been the wrong thing to say, Seth realized after he saw the rage contort her face.

"So um, I'm just gonna go back out there now. I'll come get you when your family gets here."

He quickly left the room, shutting the door behind him. He looked at the clock realizing he might just actually have to feed his parents and Summer's dad whatever it was that she made.

* * *

There was a loud knock on the front door and Seth rushed to get it. He was currently doing approximately 20 things at once, due to the fact that Summer had not reemerged from her room. He had to finish cleaning the apartment and make a new dinner (he was suddenly thankful for all those times Luke's dad had watched Rachael Ray).

Now he only hoped that his parents were here before Summer's dad. They were bound to blurt something out to her dad and he was pretty sure that Summer wanted to tell him herself.

He opened the door, thankful that it was his parents standing there. They smiled at him widely.

"Hi Seth," his mom wrapped her arms around him in a large hug.

"Hi Mom, Dad. Nice of you to come to our lovely apartment."

"Thanks for having us on such short notice."

"Where's Summer?" Kirsten asked.

"She's, uhh, in her room."

"Is she going to come out?"

"That is currently up in the air. I kind of pissed her off earlier."

"What did you do Seth?" Kirsten asked him, already a scolding tone in her voice.

"I didn't do anything! She tried to make dinner and failed and she was all upset about it. I didn't say anything except that it didn't look very edible."

"Seth," now Kirsten was scolding him. "You have to be nice to her. Think of her feelings."

"Hey, she didn't think of my feelings when she called me an asshat," Seth replied.

Kirsten just shook her head at her son. Seth was about to say something when there was another knock at the door.

"Who's that?" Sandy questioned.

"Oh right. Well, Summer's dad is in town, some sort of business thingy I guess, and he decided to come and visit her. Now, uh, she hasn't told him anything of her pregnancy or that she lives with me or something, so well, don't open your big mouths okay?"

A knock came once again, this time more urgent than before. Seth sighed and walked towards the door. He opened the door where Marissa was standing, an unfamiliar man next to her.

"Hi Marissa," Seth greeted, pretty sure that his voice was cracking. He hadn't been this nervous in a while.

"Hi Seth. Um, I can't stay but I had to bring Dr. Roberts here," she leaned closer to Seth so she could whisper to him, "I didn't explain anything. I also didn't tell him that this was her apartment."

"What did you tell him?"

"That our apartment was being fumigated and she had to stay with a friend," Marissa replied, then leaned away from Seth. "So I'll see you later. Tell Summer that I said hi and that we can go back to our apartment in a few days. Oh, this is Dr. Neil Roberts, Summer's father. Dr. Roberts, this is Summer's…friend Seth Cohen."

"Bye Marissa," Seth said. "Nice to meet you Dr. Roberts."

"You too," Dr. Roberts said, walking into the apartment.

"Uh, these are my parents, Sandy and Kirsten Cohen. I'm going to go check on dinner and get Summer, so why don't you three get acquainted with each other."

He walked over to the kitchen, checking quickly on his food. Then he went to Summer's room, knocking on her door, then let himself in without waiting for a response.She was still lying on her bed, though at least he noticed that she was no longer crying like she had been earlier. Hopefully she had decided to forgive him for his earlier comments (though he still thought that there was nothing wrong with what he said).

"Sum? Your dad's here."

"Is he really?" Summer sat up, panic in her eyes. "I-I'm not ready for that! I didn't think of what I'm going to say to him."

"Marissa told him that you were living with me for a few days while your apartment is getting fumigated."

"Okay, well that's great." Summer sighed. "I guess I'm just going to have to tell him. Maybe he won't disown me?"

"He won't disown you Summer. He loves you. It'll be fine. I'll be right there with you if you need me."

"Yea, but you'll probably just stand there like a pansy."

"No I wo-yea, actually I probably will," Seth admitted.Summer got off the bed and walked past Seth. He followed her out of the room to the living room where his parents were making small talk with Dr. Roberts.

"Hi Daddy," Summer said, hugging her father.

"Summer," her dad returned the hug. He pulled her away to look at her. "You look…different."

The group stood there awkwardly, since all of them but one knew about Summer's pregnancy. Seth was holding out hope that this was all going to go well. Or at least that it would until after dinner because he was pretty proud of the meal that he had whipped up.

Summer bit her lip, obviously contemplating what she was going to say to her dad. Seth was personally hoping that she was going to tell her dad that she had gained a bit of weight and then just tell him after dinner.

"Actually Dad, things are kind of different for me. Um, you see, I'm pregnant."

Well. There went Seth's idea of her waiting.

"You're what?"

"I'm pregnant. It's uh, Seth's baby."

Dr. Roberts turned his gaze to Seth and it wasn't a pleasant one. Seth took a step farther away from him. He knew that her dad was a plastic surgeon but he wondered if he was also capable of being the cause of the plastic surgery. He didn't really want to be the test subject of that, so he took one more step back just in case.

"Can you please explain to me what is going on Summer?" Dr. Roberts said though not taking his eyes off of Seth.

"Well," Summer was thinking about how to explain this to her dad without telling him what really happened. She was pretty sure that he wouldn't be too pleased about the fact that the baby was conceived when they were drunk. "Um, well, basically, we are uh, not dating. And we meet and well, you know, and I got pregnant. What Marissa told you about me just staying here isn't true. Seth and I moved in together about a month ago."

Seth decided to just throw his two cents in while he had the chance. "Sir, just in case you were wondering, I am taking full responsibilities for what has happened. Summer and I-"

Dr. Roberts cut Seth off, not even bothering to listen to him. "Summer how could you have been so irresponsible? Did I teach you nothing?"Summer looked down at her feet.

"Dad, I'm sorry but-"

"Summer, you are not ready to have a child. They ruin your life and take up so much of your time. You're so young. I can't believe you are going to throw your life away to have a baby with this guy over here."

Seth was about to respond and defend Summer-and himself but Summer first-except that she beat him to it."Did I ruin your life or something? I'm sorry if I did, but no kid is going to ruin my life. I'm going to take care of it no matter what. So this wasn't planned or anything but that doesn't change a thing for me or Seth. We'll always be there for our kid, which is more than I can say for some people."

Summer didn't wait for a response from her father, just turned and went back into her room. Seth was shocked at what had just happened between the two. The way Summer had talked about her dad made it seem like they had a close personal relationship and were best buddies. She had even referred to him as her best friend once. This didn't seem like it at all.

"I need to go talk to her," Dr. Roberts muttered.

"Actually, sir, I think that it might be better for you to give her some space. It might be a good idea for you to leave now."

Dr. Roberts looked Seth over once again. "You're not who I expected her to ever be with."

"I'm pretty sure that she felt the same way," Seth replied honestly.

Dr. Roberts sighed, looking tired and worn. "Tell her I went back to the hotel. I'll try calling her tomorrow maybe."

Seth shrugged. He knew Summer well enough now to know that she was probably not going to forgive her father so easily. Dr. Roberts left the apartment, leaving Seth standing there with Sandy and Kirsten. He looked at his parents, both of who were smiling at him.

"What are you two smiling at?" Seth asked. What had just happened was nothing to smile or laugh about.

"You like her don't you son?" Sandy asked.

"Wh-what?" Seth gave out a nervous laughter. "What gave you that idea? Our relationship is totally platonic. No liking whatsoever."

"Seth, just by the way that you looked at her gives it away."

"And the fact that you're itching to go and talk to her," Kirsten added.

"I am not," Seth tried to defend his very weak stance. He was pretty sure that he was failing miserably. He decided to just give it up. "Is it that obvious?"

"No, we just noticed because we're your parents and have caught onto these things over the years."

"Are you going to do anything about it?"

Seth sighed. "I don't know Mom. It's not like it's the most important thing in my life right now. So…can we change the topic to something different? This is making me as uncomfortable as the times you guys decide to do PDA in front of me.""

All right, all right, we'll stop," Kirsten said, a smile still on her face. "I just thought I'd say that she is a lovely girl and we wouldn't mind if anything ever happened between you too."

"Besides what has already happened."

"Okay, now stop talking, she's in the other room and these walls are basically paper thin so you think we could stop now?" Seth asked.

"Fine, fine."

"Do you think I should go and check on her?" Seth questioned, his voice now full of concern. He was worried about her and what had happened with her father.

"I think maybe you should give her a little time. Just let her cool off a little."

"Okay…well that's good because now you can eat what I made. Doesn't it smell great?"

Sandy patted his son on the back. "That's the spirit son. Always thinking of what's most important."

* * *

Seth wiped the last dish dry (as much to his disappointment their apartment lacked a dishwasher) and set it in the cupboard. His parents had left an hour ago, he had just finished cleaning everything up, and Summer had yet to come out.

He knew she had to be hungry. He had made up a plate for her and was going to go bring it to her, in hopes that she would eat it and maybe talk to him.He didn't even bother knocking on the door, he just opened it up. Summer didn't even look up when he walked into the room. She was sitting in her bed, leafing through a magazine, though he could tell she wasn't reading what it said.

"Hey, Sum," Seth closed the door behind him.

"I brought you some dinner."

"It's not what I made right?"

"No, I uh, threw that out. Is that okay?"

"Yea, it was gross anyways. You're right, I probably would have killed someone with that." Summer paused. "Hey we should have fed it to my dad."

"You don't mean that." Seth placed the plate on the small table next to her bed and climbed next to her.

Summer put the magazine back down and looked at Seth. "Yea, I do."

"It wasn't that bad."

"Cohen, he told me that he didn't ever really want me," Summer said, unable to help the fact that tears sprung to her eyes and started to fall.

Seth slipped his arm around her. "No, he didn't. He's always wanted you. He was just surprised to hear what you had to say. He told me."

"Did he really?" Summer questioned through her small sobs.

"No."

"What the hell are you saying that for then?"

"I'm trying to make you feel better. I'm sorry that it didn't go how you wanted it to go Summer."

"Me too. Though I never really thought that it would go well."

"I don't think he likes me very much," Seth stated after several minutes of neither saying anything, just Summer sniffling.

Summer just shrugged. "He doesn't like a lot of guys I date-or have kids with I guess."

"Right. That's excellent to know."

"Cohen?"

"Yea?"

"Do you think that you could hand me that plate? I'm really hungry and that smells really good."

Seth smiled, handing over the plate. He didn't move though. He liked the spot that he was in next to Summer. It felt right. She wasn't making him move.

Suddenly her lips pressed quickly against his own. He looked at her, eyes wide. She had a blush on her cheeks.

"What was that for?"

Summer shrugged. "Just because I felt like it."

Seth didn't respond. He tried to not think into the fact that she had just kissed him for basically no apparent reason. He had to seriously tell himself to not kiss her back as that was what he wanted to do. He refrained, though there was slight hope in his heart that Summer might just like him as more than just a friend.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of The OC.

A/N-Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter and thanks to Meg for editing.

* * *

Summer woke up during the night, the strong urge to pee overwhelming her. She looked at the clock before rolling out of bed, noting that it was well after two in the morning.

After going to the bathroom, she realized that she was hungry. She debated for several minutes about what she wanted before deciding that a chocolate milkshake sounded delicious at that moment. She checked the freezer and the fridge and saw that they had no chocolate ice cream or milk at the time. She thought about it for a minute more and decided that a chocolate shake from McDonald's sounded even better. She just didn't want to drive there to get it. She looked at Seth's closed bedroom door. He was there for a reason.

"Cohen," she said loudly, opening up the door. She stepped timidly inside, realizing that this was the first times she had really come into his room. She noticed the posters decorating his walls before going back to her mission to get a chocolate milkshake. And now French fries were starting to sound really good.

"Seth," she called, now really wanting her food.

"What?" he groaned, finally waking up. "Something wrong?"

"No. I'm hungry."

"Fridge and cupboards are full. Help yourself." He turned back onto his side, ready to go back to sleep.

"I want a chocolate milkshake and French fries from McDonald's."

"You have a car. You can take my wallet. Go ahead and get it."

"I don't want to. I want you to."

She didn't get a response from him. She waited several minutes, hoping he would respond. When he didn't, she walked over and pulled his covers back.

"Summer," he whined, "can I have my covers back?"

"No."

"It's after two in the morning, meaning it's late. I want to sleep."

"And I just want you to get me a milkshake."

Again, she got no response out of him. She glared at him before climbing next to him in bed.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm just going to lie here with you until you get up. Just to let you know, your child and I take up a lot of space."

"Fine." Seth finally got up. He pulled the jeans that he had been wearing the day before on over his boxers and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "What do you want again?"

"A chocolate milkshake and French fries," she paused. "And a cheeseburger. I haven't had one from there in like five years."

"Perhaps it's because you're a vegetarian? Or at least you were one."

"Oh right. Well…" she trailed off. She had really been looking forward to that cheeseburger.

"I won't tell anyone if you eat this one."

"Okay, good. Oh, can you get it without mustard and pickles please?"

"I'm going," Seth said, grabbing his wallet, then leaving the room.

Summer decided to stay in his bed, mainly for the reason that it was incredibly comfortable. She also wanted to look around his room, just because she was there. She studied the posters once again then looked around at the rest of the room. She noticed the plastic horse from his room before on his bedside table. She smiled at it, then went into her own room, grabbing something off of the bedside table. She went back to his room and placed her own plastic horse, Princess Sparkle, next to Seth's. She smiled at the two, finding it funny they both had a plastic horse.

She saw a pad of paper on the floor and being the curious person that she was, she picked it up off the ground. It was filled with sketches of comic book characters. She studied them intensely, as she hadn't known that he could draw like this. She knew that he liked comic books a lot, as he had shown her all of his comic books to her when they first moved in. He was really good at drawing and she was surprised that she didn't know this before.

As she was flipping through the pages, Seth came home with the food. He walked in the room and she conspicuously tried to hide the fact that she had been looking through his personal belongings by hastily shoving the sketch book somewhere. He looked at her and she knew that she had been caught.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I didn't mean to-"

"Hey, don't apologize. It's fine. Those are old anyways. I just found them the other day when I was looking for something."

"They're really good," she commented.

"Thanks," he said. He handed her a cup and a bag. "French fries, chocolate shake, and a cheeseburger without mustard and pickles."

"Thank you." She took a sip of the milkshake, definitely happy with it. She started to get off the bed when Seth stopped her.

"You don't have to go. I got something to eat, too, since I was there." He held up a bag and a cup of his own. "Since we're both up, we can just eat here. I don't care."

"Okay." Summer settled back against his pillows, opening up her bag and eating some fries.

They ate in silence for a few minutes until Seth noticed the extra horse on his bedside table.

"Who is this?" he asked, picking Princess Sparkle up.

"Oh, that's Princess Sparkle," Summer blushed, realizing it was kind of ridiculous. "I know its stupid, considering I'm 23 and I have this plastic horse still."

"Hey, I have one too. And Captain Oats doesn't think it's stupid, I think that he likes Princess Sparkle's company. He gets lonely sometimes."

"It's good that I brought her in then."

Seth gave her a slight smirk. "Nice outfit you've got on there."

Summer looked down at herself, just now remembering what she was wearing. The days were getting hotter and hotter and of course, they lucked out into having broken air conditioning and a lazy landlord who wasn't willing to fix it. Summer was uncomfortable enough as it was, the added heat was making it worse. She found that sleeping in the least possible clothing made it a little less unbearable-meaning she had been sleeping in her underwear and a t-shirt. She usually put on more clothes before leaving the room in the mornings but didn't think about it tonight. Apparently, the milkshake won out.

"Don't be embarrassed about it," Seth said before she had any time to say anything. "I was just making a comment."

She smiled at him, immediately realizing why he had replied so quickly. She had quite often gone off on him for saying something like that. She hadn't been intending to tonight, considering she wasn't really offended or anything. She toyed with the idea of playing with him for a minute but decided that it was too late and she was starting to get tired, now that she was almost done with her food.

They finished up their food, talking about random things that they hadn't covered throughout the day. Seth went to throw everything out and when he came back Summer hadn't budged from the spot, instead she had made herself more comfortable than she had been before.

"Summer," he nudged her.

"Mhmm?" she didn't open her eyes up and didn't move at all.

"Are you going to go back to bed?"

She opened up one eye. "Your bed is so comfortable and I don't feel like moving. You'll still fit in here too. You're skinny anyways, compared to my fatness."

"You're not fat," Seth replied. This had become his mantra after one little mishap where he said otherwise.

Summer didn't reply to that comment. "I promise I don't take up too much space. I just said that earlier so I would get my milkshake."

"Fine, you can stay in here." He climbed into bed next to her. "Let's not make this late night trip to McDonald's a regular occurrence okay?"

"I make no promises."

They fell silent, both slowly slipping to sleep. Right as Seth was almost there, Summer grabbed his hand. He opened his eyes and looked at her, suddenly worried.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yea," she smiled. She picked his hand up and placed it on her stomach.

He gave her a questioning look, not really realizing what was going on until he felt it. He felt the baby-their baby-kick. He grinned widely at her. This was the first time he had felt it, felt the baby kicking. Summer returned his smile, glad that this whole night-as random as it was-had happened.

* * *

"Cohen. Coheenn." Summer called his name. He didn't respond. She started poking him. She needed him to wake up.

"What is it?" Seth sat up once again, feeling slight déjà vu. "Please don't tell me that you need another freakin milkshake. It's only been," he squinted at the clock, "two hours since you last wanted one."

"No, it's not about food."

"Is it something more serious?"

"Yes!"

Seth looked at her, in panic mode now. "What's wrong?"

"I just had the worse dream of my entire life! It was about us as parents."

"That's all?" Seth questioned. "That's the whole reason you woke me up? Again?" He was a little annoyed that his sleep had been interrupted again, considering he had to get up in two more hours to go to work, as did she. He was seriously wondering why she kept doing this to the both of them.

"That's all?! This is important! I just had a dream that we couldn't take care of the kid! That we failed totally and completely as parents. We couldn't even hold the baby without dropping it. And we didn't call it anything but it! It! We were like 'Look at it, it's so cute'. We couldn't even name our child."

"Summer, calm down. It was only a dream. Please go back to sleep."

"I can't go back to sleep. All I can think of is how I'm going to be a terrible mother to it. There I go again. We need to find out the sex of this baby so we can name it so I can stop calling it It."

Seth blinked a few times. It was too early-or late- to try to follow what she was saying. "Sure. Go ahead. If that's what you want. Now let's go back to sleep."

"You're totally not doing a good job at comforting me."

"Oh, is that what I'm supposed to be doing right now?"

"Yes! I'm freaking out and you're just thinking about going back to sleep."

"You have about four months before the kid pops out Summer. You shouldn't start really worrying until there's only about a month left to go."

Summer gave an angry sigh and then got out of the bed. Seth gave her a confused look, but then decided to let her go. He liked having his bed to himself anyways.

* * *

Summer couldn't concentrate throughout the day. She just kept thinking back to the dream-though it was more like a nightmare. She knew that it wasn't real-that was mostly supported by the large pet octopus they had throughout the dream-but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was going to be a terrible mother. And, yea, Seth had made a good point about there still be a good four months until the baby was born, but when she thought about it, four months was not a long time. The days were going by fast and before she knew it, the day would be here.

At that thought, she accidentally knocked over the open water bottle that had been sitting next to her. She groaned as she watched the water trickle down the table and pool on the floor.

"Here, let me help you with that." She looked to see Jude coming towards her, paper towels in hand.

She smiled at him. "Thank you so much. I'm having a bit of an off day today."

"I noticed."

Summer raised her eyebrows. That was kind of creepy but in an almost cute way.

"Before you think I'm some sort of stalker, I just looked over to see you completely daydreaming and that you've been doing that all morning." Jude gathered up the soggy paper towels and threw them out, then perched himself on the edge of her desk. "So what's bothering you?"

"Well, last night I had a nightmare that Seth and I were horrible parents. I tried talking to him about it, but he just told me that we still have four months so I shouldn't be worrying so much. It's all I've been able to think about all day and I can't seem to get the image of a giant pet octopus attempting to eat my child out of my head. And then I think that's silly, but then I think about the rest of the dream, where I couldn't even hold my baby properly or even name it. I called it It!"

"Summer, calm down. You'll be fine, trust me. I went through the same thing before my kids were born."

Summer paused in her breakdown. Jude had kids? How did she not know this? She knew that he was a couple years older than her and that he had been married, but she never knew that he had any kids. He caught her questioning glance as he pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and pulled out a picture.

"That's Evie, she's three and that's Ethan, he's six."

"They're so cute. I didn't know you had kids."

Jude just nodded his head, placing the picture back in his wallet. "I was freaking out like that before both of them were born, more so with Ethan. With Evie, it was more concern about her and Ethan. But everyone goes through it before they become parents. Personally, I would be worried if you thought that everything was going to be easy and that you weren't freaking out. It's not like parenting is an easy thing at all."

"Jude, you're really doing wonders to make me feel better right now."

"Right sorry. Well, you've babysat before right? So just think of it like that but more permanent."

"Except for the fact that I've never babysat anyone before in my life and before you ask, I've never had any pets or anything. Basically, I've always been in charge of taking care of myself and that was it."

"Well, good luck," Jude got up to leave.

"Jude!" Summer exclaimed, grabbing his arm. "Please help me now that you've officially scared me even more than I was before."

"Okay, okay." He paused and thought for a minute. "When do you get off of work?"

Summer looked at the clock. "In twenty minutes."

"Great, that's when I do too. Do you have anything of any importance to do?"

"No, just go home and freak out to Seth and have him tell me to stop like the great supportive person that he is."

"I'll meet you back here in 25 minutes. I have an idea that might help you."

* * *

Summer shifted awkwardly in the front seat of Jude's car. She wasn't really sure where they were going and what they were going to do exactly. He was being very sparse with the details of what was going on.

He finally stopped the car in front of a…pet store. Summer looked at him curiously.

"We're going to a pet store?"

"We're going to get you a pet," Jude replied.

"Why are we getting me a pet?" Summer questioned as they walked into the store.

"You said you've never had one before and never had to take care of one. This way you can get used to taking care of another life and learn if you aren't good at it."

"And what happens if I suck at being a parent to a pet?"

Jude paused. "Well, we'll go from there if that happens, though I doubt that this is going to happen."

"I don't see how this is going to work…"

"Just go with it. Come on. What kind of pet do you want to have?"

Summer looked around at the animals. She wasn't entirely on board with this idea but she decided to go along with it. A dog would be too much work and plus there was barely any room in their apartment. She was not fond of cats at all after an experience with a friend's cat at age 12. Any reptile was immediately ruled out.

That's when she saw the cages against the wall, filled with rabbits. One of them caught her eye and she knew that was what she wanted. She dragged Jude over to the cage. "This is what I want."

"All right. You want…" he read the tag on the cage, "Pancakes."

They got all of the things that were needed to take care of Pancakes, including a long drawn out talk from the worker, though Summer didn't pay attention. She looked at Pancakes with a mix of nerves and excitement. Yes, it was only a rabbit, but she was now totally responsible to take care of him and make sure he didn't die.

Jude loaded everything into his car, then looked at Summer. "Do you maybe want to go out to dinner? My mom has Evie and Ethan for the night and I don't have anything to do."

"Sure. We should take Pancakes home first. It would be a bad thing to leave him in the car."

"See, look, you're already good at this."

* * *

As soon as Summer came in through the apartment door, Seth was right there, a worried and panicked expression on his face.

"Summer, where have you been? Is everything all right?" He looked at Pancakes. "And why do you have a bunny?" He then saw Jude coming into the apartment. "And who is that?"

"That's Jude, he works with me. He was helping me today when I was freaking out about my dream and everything. He didn't just tell me to calm down and that there was still four months to go 'before the kid pops out'."

Seth winced. "So that wasn't the best word choice but it was late and I was tired. Care to explain the bunny now?"

"Oh, this is Pancakes. We're his parents now."

Seth just stared at her. Okay, he had been fine with the whole being a parent to a human, but to a bunny? Named Pancakes? This was weird.

"Jude thought it would be a good for us to have something to take care of to get us used to the idea of having a kid and all."

Summer watched as Seth looked at Jude and Jude looked at Seth. She felt like she was in the middle of some intense male moment or something, with the looks that they were giving one another.

"Um, Jude asked me to go out to dinner, so we just brought Pancakes home. Can you set up his cage and everything for me? There's a book in the bag that you can read about how to care for him."

Seth didn't saw anything as she placed Pancakes in his arms. She looked over at Jude and smiled at him. "Okay, let's go."

They left the house, leaving Seth alone with Pancakes. In her haste to leave, she missed the look of hurt and confusion on Seth's face. He had really thought that they were going somewhere and were taking a step towards a relationship. He hadn't realized that he was the only one taking a step forward.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize I don't own.

A/N-This is probably one of the more…random chapter that I've written recently. It's in Seth's POV just because I haven't done any in his in this story lately. Anyways, I just wanted to say thanks to alpha spyda for some really great suggestions, to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and to Meg for editing for me!

* * *

Seth had been having a rather pleasant sleep, he really was. It was a nice deep sleep, one that you fall into when you're really tired, which he was. He had gotten up at four in the morning because someone whose name rhymed with bummer wanted pancakes-and not the bunny. And she wanted them made from a recipe that her grandmother used that she somehow had. At four in the morning. Of course, they didn't have anything to make them with so he had to go and hunt down the ingredients. All in all it wasn't a pleasant morning.

On top of that, he got to work late due to a Summer mood swing in which he swears he was about to be decapitated. All he did was, apparently, tell her that she looked fat. He never actually said those words. He actually didn't say anything to her, considering he hadn't exactly heard what she had said to him and it wasn't his fault that he had selective hearing. He tended to tune her out when she got that whiny tone in her voice. It was just the way that he was.

So after being woken up way too early, being late to work, his boss being pissed at him, he also got to come home to an empty apartment since Summer was out with that stupid guy Jude.

And then he ended up staying later than he had intended as he wanted to make sure Summer got home all right. That was a large mistake on his part because she didn't get home until well after midnight-he had been half asleep on the couch.

He finally got to his bed and fell into the wonderful deep sleep. He had been having a dream about a human sized Pancakes and him running through fields of grass-totally ridiculous, but in his dreamland it was quite a nice adventure.

That was when he woke up due to the cold feet that he felt on his bare legs. He was confused and still half asleep-for a minute he thought that the human sized Pancakes from his dream really existed. That was when he realized that the cold feet that he was feeling belonged to none other than the woman carrying his baby.

"Summmmerr," he groaned. He didn't have time to deal with her at the moment. He wanted sleep, a real night's sleep. It had been so nice, he just wanted it back.

"Sh, I'm sleeping," she responded quietly. "And so is Pancakes."

Seth opened his eyes and sure enough the bunny was now sitting in his cage on top of Seth's dresser.

"Why aren't you and Pancakes sleeping in your own room? You know, one of the many reasons that we got the 2 bedroom apartment?" Seth wondered.

"You mean toy box," Summer replied.

"Whatever. It gives us a roof, that's all that matters. Now, tell me again why you are in my bed? Emphasis on the _my_ in that sentence."

"Mine is uncomfortable," Summer said in a sleepy tone. He already knew that he was losing her to sleep.

"No it's not. I've sat on it plenty of times, I think it's comfortable."

"No it isn't. I hate it."

"So you decide it's just fine to come in mine? You know there's a couch too that you could totally sleep on."

"Yea, that's uncomfortable."

"But Summer this is my bed." Yes, he was whining to her and he realized he sounded like a five year old. He didn't care anymore. He wanted to just continue on with his good night of sleep alone in his bed.

It wasn't that he really minded Summer coming into his bed. Okay, well, yes, he did. But it wasn't for the obvious reasons of her taking up his bed space. Truthfully he didn't really need that much space in his bed. It was more the thought that she was sleeping in the same bed as him and that they weren't a couple. He knew that he couldn't slip his arm around her, that he couldn't lean over and softly kiss her cheek-well, unless he wanted to lose some valuable body parts that is.

He looked at her, trying to urge her out of his bed with his mind. When that didn't work-and he tried for a good minute-he gave up. He lost, once again. He would give in to just about anything when it came to Summer.

He lay in bed trying to fall back asleep. He was almost there when he heard a loud snore coming from Summer. He was slightly alarmed for a minute, as he thought it had come from Pancakes, but then he realized. It was definitely Summer, which was weird considering last week when she had come into his room, she hadn't snored at all. That was when he realized she probably didn't snore normally. It was just the forces of the world working against him to ensure that sleep didn't come to him at all that night.

Summer moved closer to him, pushing him farther against the wall. He sighed as he curled up in his approximately one inch of space. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

Seth crawled out of bed at about an hour after he had actually fallen asleep. At first it was the snoring that kept him up. Then it was the constant moving of Summer and then for some reason at one point she started conversing with him. He carried on the conversation with her as normal, wondering why at three o'clock in the morning she wanted to discuss the weather, but she had weird little quirks about her and he just assumed this was another one, so he went along with it, discussing the beautiful weather in Southern California.

He finally clued in that she was talking in her sleep when she said something along the lines of 'it's raining purple ponies' and then muttered the word 'mushaboom' several times before falling back asleep completely. That was when he decided that the world was fully against him because he seriously hadn't heard her talk in her sleep before. It wasn't fair that all of this weirdness about her the one night when he really really wanted his sleep.

Up he stayed until about five when finally even his annoyance at everything couldn't fight off the sleep that he desperately needed. It was a nice little sleep that he enjoyed immensely-that is, until the alarm started the angry beeping at him as it did every morning at 6:15. He glared at the bright red numbers that were most definitely mocking him. He wasn't sure why or how alarm clock numbers were even capable of doing so, but to him, at that moment, it all made sense.

He noticed that Summer was no longer in his bed and he wondered if he had just had a really terrible dream. Then he realized that if it was a dream, the night wouldn't have gone quite how he did.

He groaned as he pulled himself out of the bed and into the hallway. He usually took a shower first thing in the morning but he needed coffee. Desperately. That was all that his mind was set on at that moment.

He walked into the kitchen to see Summer cheerfully eating a Pop-Tart while reading the paper. He glared at her then continued his quest for coffee.

"'Morning Cohen," Summer said, all that cheerfulness that he had seen emanating itself in her voice.

He didn't respond. He was looking for the coffee. He couldn't find it anywhere. He searched through the drawers and didn't see it anywhere.

"What are you doing?" Summer inquired.

"Coffee." He was at the point where cavemen answers would suffice.

"There is none."

He turned around sharply, letting the cupboard door slam behind him. "What now?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Seriously, I swear we go through this discussion all the time. You said, and I am quoting you 'I don't want any coffee to be near you so you aren't tempted to drink it so our child doesn't have a third eye'."

He paused. "I told you that when I said not to get any X-rays of any sort. Not coffee."

"Oh. Whatever," Summer shrugged, "I'm not the one who threw out all the coffee."

He groaned. She was right. He did do that. The things that you repress when you are that tired…

"I'm going to go shower," Seth said, hoping that would maybe wake him up.

It didn't do the trick exactly but it was good enough. It at least gave him the ability to keep his eyes open. He had full intentions of going to get a very large coffee on the way to work. Possibly two.

When he stepped out of his room, he looked at Summer who was sitting on the couch.

"You look nice this morning," he stated.

"Are you sure I don't look fat in this?"

He opened his mouth and then closed it. He realized that he actually had to think before he spoke in this situation. "I think that it looks really great on you. Really really…great." He needed to think of better adjectives, that's what he decided.

"Thanks." She smiled at him. "Oh and thanks again for letting me sleep in your bed last night. I had a really good night sleep actually, one of the best ones that I've had recently."

"That's good, I'm glad. You can come in anytime." Secretly he was thinking something completely opposite, but he was refraining from saying so.

She tugged at her shirt, looking down at it. "Are you sure this looks okay?"

"Yes, Summer, I already told you that it looks fantastic." Aha, he knew he could come up with a better adjective!

"Okay…it's just I'm going out with Jude after work today and I want to look nice."

That was a sure way to kill the good mood he had started. "You're going out with Jude again?"

"Yea," Summer nodded her head, not divulging anymore information after that.

Seth didn't know if he had the better end of this anymore. Last week, when this whole Jude thing started, he had been happy that she wasn't telling him much of anything about what happened between the two. Now though…he kind of wished she pretended that he was her best friend. He wanted to know if they were serious or what. Basically, he wanted the details of the relationship.

"Hey, do you think maybe that you could take my car to work today?" Summer asked after a few minutes had passed.

"Sure, why do you not feel like your own car will match your shoes or something?" he teased.

"No, it was making funny noises yesterday. I don't want to be driving around in it and have it break down on me."

"So you want it to break down when I drive it?"

"Hello, I'm pregnant and a girl. You don't want me to be driving and all of the sudden it to break down in this shady little side road and me to be abducted now do you?"

"No, you're right, I would never ever want something like that to happen. I'll take it as long as you promise me that you'll get it looked at soon just because I don't want to have to drive around with the chance of it breaking down on me."

"Okay."

Seth looked at the clock, realizing that he needed to leave soon if he wanted to get to work on time with the large coffee. He stood up, wishing Summer goodbye before leaving the 'toy box' apartment, ready to start his day.

* * *

Seth was beginning to hate the word 'Cohen'. He really was.

All day his boss was calling his name for him to do something, despite the other people who were totally capable of doing the job. He knew that it was because he was the newbie still, only having worked there for about four and a half months.

Plus that whole spilling his whole coffee on his boss when he walked into the building probably didn't help him out in any way.

It was just every five minutes his name was being called out. It was Cohen this, Cohen that. He had to stay later than normal so that he could take care of some crap that had been messed up by someone else. He had almost got out of it, as it wasn't clear if his boss had said 'Cohen' or 'Campbell'. Before Seth could escape and leave it to Campbell, his name had been repeated loudly and clearly. There was no way he was getting out of this one.

He looked up, noting that the office was near empty now. He looked at the clock, realizing that it was way later than he thought that it was. He had been working in a trance like way, not realizing that everyone around him had been leaving. He decided that he should probably get going-which his stomach whole-heartedly agreed with this decision.

He walked to Summer's car, debating where he was going to pick up something for dinner. He didn't have to worry about Summer as she was already out with Jude, so he could get something to eat that she didn't like.

He started the car and decided to just stop at the first fast food place that he saw. He decided to just keep it simple, as he intended on going home, eating, and then crashing on his bed. It sounded like the best plan to him and he decided to stick with it.

He was just driving along, keeping his eyes open for a place to pull into. As he was doing this, he started to notice the funny noises that Summer had previously mentioned. He noticed this and the fact that there was smoke coming out from underneath the hood of the car. He immediately pulled over to try and figure out what was wrong with the car.

That was when he realized he knew absolutely nothing about cars and even if he did, what could he do to fix a car in an abandoned parking lot. He kind of wished that he had picked a restaurant parking lot to stop in. At least then he would have been able to eat something.

He sighed, getting out of the car, just in case it blew up. He stood looking at it, not a clue what he should do. He decided that it was best to call someone.

He couldn't call Summer, she was on her date with Jude and probably wouldn't pick up the phone. He knew that there was a chance that Ryan would pick up but then he remembered that he had been planning a date with Taylor for that night. His parents had gone out of town for a few days, something involving business he thought. He hadn't really been paying attention, as he did more often than he should.

He realized that was basically all the people he knew. Well. He was screwed.

He gave a frustrated sigh, leaning against his car. There had to be someone he knew that would pick up his phone call. He opened up his phone to look to see and came across a number that he hadn't called before and he hadn't even known was in his phone. He realized Summer must have put it in there, something he was actually really happy that she did.

He thought for a minute that it would be awkward and maybe he shouldn't call. Then his stomach growled and he decided that he didn't care about awkwardness. He needed to call someone and she was his only option.

He dialed the number and almost let out a cry of joy when she picked up.

"Hey, Marissa? It's Seth Cohen, you know Summer's…whatever she's calling me."

"I know who you are Seth. The phone did tell me so."

"Ah right. Well, long story short, I took Summer's piece of crap car to work and it broke. I'm stranded in the middle of a parking lot, hungry, cold, lonely, and-"

"Where are you?"

He gave her the location that he was at, then hung up. He was thankful that at least someone was going to come and get him.

* * *

"Bye Marissa, thanks again."

"Anytime. Tell Summer that she better get a new car."

"I will."

Seth waved once more, then started walking to the apartment. Marissa had picked him up from the parking lot and after calling a tow truck for the car, took him to get food. He was so gracious for her and they ended up having a good time. He hadn't spent much time with anyone who wasn't pregnant or his coworker so it was nice to just have a break from the normal talk that came with it.

Now he was ready to go home to sleep and actually get an adequate amount of sleep. It was going to be a nice day tomorrow, as it was a Saturday, enabling him to sleep in. He was so looking forward to that.

He let himself in the apartment and was surprised to hear that the television was still on. He had thought that Summer would still be out.

"Summer?" he called, walking into the small living room.

"Seth?!" she turned her head around to face him.

The first thing he noticed was that her face was red as if she had been crying. At first his mind immediately jumped to something that Jude might have done to her and he was ready to go find the guy. When she stood up and threw her arms around him, he realized it must have been something else.

"Whoa, what's this for?" he asked. Not that he wasn't enjoying being hugged by her or anything, it was just rather out of the blue.

"I thought you were dead!" she sobbed, fresh tears coming out of her eyes.

"You what now?" he questioned. That wasn't really what he was expecting to come out of her mouth.

"There was a horrible accident near where you work! And someone who died in the accident wasn't identified, all that was known was that the person was a young male."

"Well, look I'm not dead."

"I know but it could have been you. I really thought that it was you."

"You're glad that it wasn't though right?" This received a glare in response. "Right, no jokes. Gotcha."

"I shouldn't have made you take my car."

"Actually, it was better that I did. It did end up breaking down. That's why I'm so late. Marissa came and picked me up and-"

"Wait, Marissa?"

"Yea. I called her because I needed someone and she was the most available."

"Why didn't you call me? I would have gotten you."

"You were out with Jude. I didn't want to disturb you."

"You should have. Then you wouldn't have had me freaking out for the past two hours that you were dead."

"I-," he paused. He didn't particularly feel like arguing any of this with her right at that moment. It was almost a guarantee that it would not end pleasantly. "You're right. I should have called you."

"You're right you should have."

"Next time I break down, I will definitely call you, no matter what is going on. Even if you are on a date."

Summer rolled her eyes at him but was smiling at the same time. "Do you want to watch a movie or something?"

Seth thought about this for a minute. He had a really nice comfortable bed waiting for him and he really wanted to go to it. Summer was giving him the look though, the one that meant he didn't really have a choice in what he did.

"Of course I do Summer."

The two started their usual argument about what they wanted to watch. Finally, they made a decision-Seth finally winning this one-and started the movie.

He was really enjoying the movie, glad that for once it was not about a girl falling in love with a guy. He was surprised he was still up but he managed. Apparently, Summer didn't agree with his thoughts.

"Cohen, this is boring," she yawned halfway through the long movie.

"Shh, this is the good part."

"I'm going to bed. You should probably do so too. It's already past midnight and we have to be out of here by 9."

He looked at her. "What now?"

"Don't tell me you forgot."

"I, erm, forgot?"

She sighed. "We have my doctor's appointment in the morning. You promised you would come to this one. And then you said we could go shopping."

He visibly winced. He had managed to avoid going to the doctor's with Summer so far, as they freaked him out a lot, but he knew he couldn't get out of this one. And shopping…as fun as that sounded, he had to figure a way to get out of it.

"Do we have to leave so early? I vaguely remember you telling me it wasn't until noon."

"It's at 11:30. We're meeting Coop for breakfast and she's coming with us."

"Then you can do the shopping with her?"

"No, we're all going together. No backing out of this, we're getting baby stuff remember?"

He should have known this wasn't going to be something he could get out of. "Where are we going to be putting said baby stuff? There's no room."

"You're the one who picked the toy box to live in, not me," she said. "Make sure you're up by seven okay?"

He sighed. He was never going to get his sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to The OC.

A/N-Hm. This chapter kind of went in a different direction then what I originally was going to do. I like it though, so hopefully everyone else does. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and to Meg for editing.

* * *

"Summer, I can't find my shirt."

"Well, why are you asking me?"

"I don't know. I figured you would know where it was."

"I'm not your maid Seth."

"I just figured that you would know where it was or something."

"Wear a different shirt."

"I wanted to wear that shirt."

Marissa couldn't help but laugh at the conversation that she was hearing. It was completely ridiculous in a hilarious way.

She had been waiting for Seth and Summer to be ready for the past half hour. It had been a half hour of arguing between the two about random nonsensical things. They reminded her more than anything of an old married couple.

As this thought crossed her mind, she started to think about the confusing relationship that the two were involved in. She wasn't too sure why they weren't together. For one thing, there was the whole Summer was going to have a baby. Even she had assumed that they were going to get together but so far nothing.

There was also the fact that yesterday Seth had pretty much poured his heart out about Summer to Marissa. He told her how much he liked her and wanted to start a relationship with her. Of course, it was next to impossible at this moment as Summer was now involved with Jude.

Marissa wanted to see Seth and Summer together. Not only for the sake of their future baby but because they honestly seemed to her like they would be a pretty good couple. She was pretty sure that Seth was completely on board with his feelings for Summer and would jump at the chance of a relationship with her, but Summer was a different story.

She watched as Summer came out of her room, a shirt in hand. She knocked on Seth's door, then threw the shirt at him.

"You had my shirt?"

Summer shrugged. "Yea, it must have gotten mixed up with my clothes. Are you ready now that you have your shirt?"

"Yes, let's go."

Marissa followed the two (who she was pretty sure forgot about her) outside. She needed a plan. She was most definitely going to come up with a plan so that Seth and Summer would end up together. No matter what it took.

* * *

Summer shifted nervously in her chair. She had hated going to see any doctor of any kind, ever since she was a little kid.

"Will you stop moving Summer?" Seth said with a bit of edge in his tone.

"I will if you stop snapping at me."

"I'm not snapping at you."

"Coop, is he snapping at me?"

Marissa looked up from her magazine that she was reading. Both were looking at her as if their lives depended upon her answer.

"Oh no. Don't get me involved in your argument."

"Well in that case, you were snapping at me. And I don't appreciate it. I can't help it that I cannot sit comfortably okay?"

"I was not snapping at you. I was telling you to stop moving because it's irritating."

"You two are like an old married couple." Marissa made this comment without looking up from her magazine, mostly to attempt to hide her laughter.

Summer glared at Marissa. She did not appreciate that being said about her and Seth at all. "I'm going to pretend that you didn't just say that."

"I meant it as a compliment."

Before Summer could respond to her, her name was called. She got up, Seth and Marissa following slowly behind her.

"So how's your day going so far?" Marissa questioned, a smirk tugging at her lips.

"Oh can't you tell that it's going great?" Seth sighed. "I should really be more sympathetic towards her and everything. At least that is what my mom would tell me to do. More accurately, she would yell at me to be nicer to Summer."

"But then you two wouldn't be able to argue like an old married couple."

He just shook his head as they entered the office. That was when Seth realized that he felt incredibly awkward being here. This was the first appointment that he had gone to with her, strategically missing the previous ones that she had asked him to come to. It wasn't that he didn't want to be there for Summer, he just found it rather unnecessary for him to be there as she discussed whatever it was that they discussed at these appointments (not that he would know-unless watching in movies counts).

Seth sat down in a chair next to Marissa and promptly zoned out. He was pretty uninterested as far as this whole thing went, so this was his best option. He first looked at a poster that was on a wall, until he realized exactly what the poster was showing him. That was when he promptly focused on his shoes. No funny business was going on there.

After staring for what felt like forever and finding out that he had a large hole in his favorite pair of Chuck Taylor's, the door opened up. Seth finally lifted his eyes (averting them from the poster) and a male doctor came into the room.

First thing Seth noticed about him was his overly cheerful smile. It wasn't like he had something against cheerful smiles, he just thought it to be rather creepy. Really creepy actually.

"Good morning everyone." Mr. Cheerful walked over to Seth. "You must be the father of the baby. Nice to meet you. I'm Dr. Abernathy Feelgood."

On that note, Seth couldn't help but snicker. Summer shot him a glare and Marissa hit him on the arm.

"Ow!"

"That was rude Seth," Summer remarked. "Apologize."

Seth found himself struggling to say the words "Sorry Dr. Feelgood". It was just too ridiculous to be stated aloud.

"Don't worry about it. Please call me Dr. Abernathy. I prefer that to Dr. Feelgood." Even he was laughing as he said this.

Seth agreed. He still felt himself fighting back a laugh though, at the name Abernathy. Summer would kill him if he voiced anything about that, so he decided to just sit in silence for a few minutes-quite the feat for him.

"So you two aren't married correct?"

"No," Seth replied.

"Engaged?"

"Uh, no."

Dr. Abernathy gave a slightly confused look. "Dating then?"

"Nooo, it's-"

"Complicated," Summer finished for Seth.

"Old married couple," Marissa whispered, loud enough for Summer to hear. She received a frustrated look for that remark.

The appointment continued, Dr. Abernathy questioned Summer, causing Seth to lose interest. He knew all that was going on with Summer and her pregnancy, he did live in very close quarters with her.

He tuned out their conversation again, thinking about what he was going to have for lunch. Just as he was about to make a decision on what he wanted, Summer interrupted his thoughts.

"Cohen, will you pay attention for more than two seconds?"

"What?"

She rolled her eyes at him. He grinned sheepishly at her and shrugged. "What did you want?"

"Do we want to know the sex of the baby?"

Seth paused. He looked at Summer. "Um…do you want to?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

Marissa sighed. "You two are the most indecisive people I know."

Seth could make decisions about what he wanted for lunch and what he wanted to wear in the morning. This was more difficult for him to decide on. A part of him wanted to know and a part of him wanted to keep it a surprise.

"What do you think?"

Seth thought for another minute. The part that was really curious won out of the surprised part. "If you want to then I want to."

"Okay…then, yes, we do want to know the sex of the baby."

Seth couldn't help but feel a bit of excitement as he looked on the screen. He moved closer to Summer, her hand grabbing his own. He smiled at her before focusing on the screen again. He was looking at his baby-their baby at that moment. He couldn't help the fact that his smile got even wider than it had been before.

"It looks like you are going to have a baby girl."

Seth's smile got even wider-if it was possible. He looked at Summer, whose face had a smile just as large as his own. They were going to have a girl.

"Congratulations guys," Marissa spoke up.

The appointment continued for several more minutes, though this time, Seth didn't sit back down. He stayed next to Summer and listened-okay, half paid attention-to what the doctor was saying.

They left, both Seth and Summer practically bouncing with excitement about their news. He wanted to call everyone he knew and tell them that he was going to have a girl. He couldn't help how excited he had become.

"So where are we going now?" he questioned.

He received no response from either of the two. He looked over at Summer who was staring at her phone with deep concentration. He looked back at Marissa who was texting her latest boyfriend.

"Uh someone? Where are we off to next? I vaguely remember something about shopping and the promise of me getting some lunch. I'm willing so can we just tell Seth, the driver of the car, where he is headed to?"

"The mall," Summer responded.

"Okay, to the mall we go."

"Does anyone mind if Jude possibly meets us?" Summer questioned.

"Um actually-"

"Okay, I told him that he could."

Seth sat back in his seat a little defeated. He didn't want to spend his day with Jude. He wanted to spend it with Summer-and Marissa too. Sure shopping wasn't exactly his idea of a good time but it was shopping for their baby. Jude didn't belong there at all.

He started driving, now unhappy to be there. He decided to just suck it up. Summer was going to do what she wanted to do. He was just going to deal with it. And he was probably going to have to be nice to Jude too.

This day was not looking so good anymore.

* * *

Marissa watched as Seth slumped unhappily against the booth seat. She didn't really blame him for the way he was acting. He had just spent a lot of money purchasing items for the baby and now Jude had met them for lunch.

The waitress came over, taking their orders. Marissa noted that Seth was watching Summer and Jude interact the whole time. He watched how she touched his arm and laughed at something he said. It would be creepy if it wasn't so sad as it was pretty obvious that Seth wished he was in Jude's spot.

"So, Seth," Jude directed the conversation, "Summer told me that you guys found out that you're going to have a girl. I'm sure you're pretty excited for that."

"Yep."

"I have a daughter and she is an amazing kid. She just turned three."

Marissa's ears perked up. Summer had not mentioned anything about Jude having children. This added another piece of drama to this situation. This meant he had been married-was he still married? This was something that she had to dig deeper into.

"I didn't know you had kids," Seth said. It wasn't really stated in a nice way either. He couldn't help the edge that crept into his voice.

"Evie and her older brother Ethan. He's six."

"So what happened to their mom? Were you two ever married? Or perhaps it was a situation where she was pregnant with your kid and she started dating someone else?"

The group was silent for a few minutes. Marissa could tell it was about to explode though-more accurately just Summer.

"Actually no, we were married for seven years and just divorced a little over a year ago."

"Ah, she just didn't want to be married to you anymore?"

Jude cleared his throat uncomfortably. "No, actually, she was cheating on me with her coworker."

"The infamous cheating with the coworker," Seth said, then muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like a remark about Summer cheating on him or something. Marissa's skills in mumbling weren't all that up to par lately.

"Seth!" Summer exclaimed, obviously having heard what he said.

Seth wasn't done though. "Summer's the first person you've dated since the divorce?"

"Yes, actually, she is. With two kids it's hard to find someone willing to date me."

"So you pick someone's who's pregnant with someone's else's kid?"

"Seth, seriously," Summer threatened.

"Listen buddy, it's not my fault that you didn't step up and start dating her after you got her pregnant. Don't go yelling at me because you missed your window of opportunity."

"Can you two stop it please?" Summer asked. This plea fell on deaf ears.

"You're probably just taking advantage of Summer. She's vulnerable and you want someone who will actually fall for you and doesn't care about if you have kids. You want someone to make you feel better. You probably don't even care about her."

"That's enough! Seth, go outside."

Seth looked ready to say something else but Summer pulled him out of the booth. Marissa thought about staying in the restaurant with Jude but then decided to follow Seth and Summer outside. Not only because she wanted to hear what was going on but because she thought someone would need her for moral support-though she wasn't sure if that was going to be Seth or Summer.

"Seth! You had no right to say those things to Jude!"

"I actually have every right to say anything I want to him."

"Well, I don't think you do. He's a nice guy, why can't you see that? He didn't do anything to you at all."

"He might of."

Summer rolled her eyes at him. "You know what? He was right. You missed your window of opportunity for me and you. You might have had a chance but now…no. You missed it and you have to deal with the fact that this baby is the only thing between us now."

"Fine. Would you like me to just leave you alone then? That's what I'll do. Apparently, that's what you seem to want to happen."

Summer hesitated and Marissa could tell that she wanted to protest what Seth had just said. She didn't get the chance to as Seth walked away from her and didn't look back.

"Look, I'll go talk to him. You go and talk to Jude or something."

"Marissa, I don't want him to leave me alone."

"I know Sum. He's just…hurt. Trust me. I had to listen to him ramble about everything for three hours last night."

Summer sighed, wiping the tears that had spilled out of her eyes. "Everything was going so well."

"I know. If you want me to go talk to him, I have to catch up to him now. He's a fast walker and I don't want to lose him."

Marissa walked after Seth, wondering why she was doing this. Then she remembered that Summer was her best friend, that she had always been there for her in high school when she had some major issues. Now it was Marissa's turn to help out Summer-and Seth too. Though she wasn't sure how she was going to help this time.

"Seth," she called out, finally having caught up to him.

Seth turned to look at her. "So, that probably wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done."

"Uh, what gave you that clue?"

"Shit." He ran his hands through his hair. "I didn't mean to say all of that. It just kind of came out of my mouth. It was like my mouth wasn't connected to my brain at all."

"Somehow I see that happening a lot to you."

Seth nodded his head. "What am I going to do now? How did I manage to screw things up so quickly?"

"You didn't screw things up. Things are going okay."

"Marissa. How are things going okay? Summer is more pissed at me than ever before, she's still dating that stupid idiot Jude, and I just told her that I would leave her alone."

"Right. Okay, so I lied a little. A lot."

"If she wouldn't have started dating Jude we wouldn't have had any problems. I could be dating her right now. We could be preparing to be a family."

Marissa contemplated this all. "What we need is a plan. A plan so Summer realizes that you two should be dating and a plan to get rid of Jude. Because truthfully I don't like him. I don't know there seems to be something shady about him."

"So we basically need a plan to get Summer to realize that I'm actually the man of her dreams and that Jude is a scumbag?"

"Precisely."

"Got anything?"

Marissa thought for several minutes. She had developed a slight plan earlier, one that was kind of ridiculous and there was a chance that Summer could get emotionally hurt in the process-but it was the best she could come up with. Something to do with Jude she would figure out later.

"I think I might have something. Do you want to go somewhere else to eat to figure out everything."

Seth nodded his head. "Yea. Sounds like a plan. Speaking of plans, what is yours?"

"Um, we'll talk about it when we get there. Just trust me, we will have to think really hard to come up with a way to execute this plan skillfully."

"Do I get to wear a tux like James Bond?"

Marissa shook her head. "If you want to Seth."

Seth laughed with her and was thankful that at least someone was on his side about him and Summer getting together. He just hoped that Marissa's plan was going to work because he wasn't sure how much longer he could last with him and Summer just being friends.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of The OC.

A/N-I wasn't going to update this again until after my exams, but somehow I found myself writing this chapter. I'm not really sure about this chapter as I had intentionally wanted to keep this story kind of drama free and light hearted, but somehow the drama snuck in here. Oh well, I kind of like it better that way. Anyway, thanks for the reviews for the last chapter and thanks to Meg to putting up with my badgering about editing and then doing so for me.

* * *

"So what do you think of the plan?"

Seth sat and contemplated this plan of Marissa's for a minute. It seemed very risky to him. Risky in a good and a bad way though.

"I kind of like it. But what happens if it doesn't work? You do realize that there's a lot more at risk here then just me losing Summer right? There's the baby and your friendship…"

"Well, it's the best thing that I've got. Do you know of a better way?"

Seth thought for a minute. "Um, not really."

"Then we'll go with this one then."

"Okay. When do we start?"

"Tomorrow morning."

* * *

Seth lay on Marissa's couch, which proved to be one of the least comfortable couches he had ever had to sleep on. He kind of missed his bed. Summer was right about it. It was one of the most comfortable beds.

Thinking about what Summer had to say brought his mind completely to her again. As much as he didn't want to think about her, she kept coming back to him and especially the plan that had been created.

He was still a little unsure about Marissa's plan, which was basically that he and Marissa were going to pretend that they were dating. Somewhere, in Marissa's mind, she had thought that this would somehow make Summer really jealous of them and want her to date him.

Seth kind of had doubt about that. He thought that it was actually going to make Summer hate him, deny him the right to see his daughter when she was born, and make Marissa lose her friendship.

He didn't express his concerns about this to Marissa. She had seemed so excited about it that he didn't want to spoil her excitement. She seemed to really think that this was going to get Summer to realize that deep down inside she loved Seth more than anything in the world. Somehow, he thought that this was not the case but he was pacifying her.

The other plan that she had created for a way to expose Jude as a 'bad guy' was completely ridiculous and even Marissa had realized it. It had something to do with stalking him and finding out if he is up to any shady business. They decided that they were going to elaborate on that plan a little so as neither could possibly get arrested for it.

Tomorrow morning they were going to start Operation Get Seth and Summer Together (abbreviated to OGSST by Marissa who Seth was beginning to think was taking this whole thing a little too seriously). He was more than slightly worried about how it was going to turn out.

* * *

Summer sat, wide awake, in Seth's bed. She felt utterly pathetic, sleeping in his bed, but she wanted to be right there when he came home. They had some serious things that they needed to talk about that night.

After he and Marissa had left the restaurant, she had Jude take her home. Neither of them said anything about what had just happened. Basically, they didn't talk at all on the way to the apartment. It was all right with her though. She didn't want this all to cause a fight between her and Jude because she was almost certain that it would.

She had sat in her apartment for the rest of the day, wondering how what had started out as an amazing day had changed so quickly. They had found out that they were going to have a baby girl, something that they had both been quite excited about.

That was all she thought about all day. She couldn't get it off of her mind. She had not only thought about that, but where he had been. He didn't call her at all and didn't show up. That was when she took refuge in his bed, realizing that she was just going to have to wait for him to come home.

Now, she sat, wide awake due the worry of him not being home and the inability to find a comfortable position to sleep in. For some reason, when Seth was there with her, she could always fall asleep. Now that he was not there with her, everything seemed to be different.

She turned, burying her head into his pillow. She breathed in the scent that he left behind, the strong smell of his shampoo. Her eyes shot back open almost as quickly as she had closed them.

She liked Seth Cohen. A lot.

She groaned. This was not right. She shouldn't be liking him. She shouldn't have feelings for him when she had a boyfriend.

And yet at the same time, she realized that she had feelings for him. She probably had developed them over the past three months that they had been living together.

It wasn't that she didn't want to like him. Truthfully, she had thought more than once about them starting a relationship. Most of the time it had been a late night thought when she considered most of her thoughts to be delusional.

Now though, she realized that it might have been more than delusional thinking. A part of her wanted to be with Seth. Another part of her thought she was crazy for even thinking about that.

And what if they happened to break up? She couldn't handle that, especially considering in another four months there was going to be their child involved in their relationship. It wouldn't just be about them.

But at the same time, even if they weren't together, wouldn't that affect their kid? She wasn't sure about this. All of the thinking that she was doing was starting to give her a serious headache.

She wondered what would happen if they took the chance of dating. If maybe things would end up lasting forever. She wasn't sure if she was ready to take that chance.

* * *

"Now what am I supposed to do again?"

Marissa sighed. "Come on Seth, we talked about this for like a half hour. It's not that hard!"

"Yes, it is. I don't really want to tell her that I'm moving in with you for a while. For one thing, I don't really feel comfortable leaving her all alone in that apartment. Another thing, she kind of scares me."

Marissa rolled her eyes. "It will be fine Seth. She'll be fine living alone. It's only until she realizes her true feelings for you anyway. Plus, you should be more afraid when we do the whole 'we're dating' part."

"That's going to be about as pleasant as this," he groaned, trying to get the images of what Summer was going to do to him out of his head.

"Trust me Seth. This plan is fool proof. She's going to be wanting to date you in just a few weeks."

"Somehow I seriously doubt that, considering she hasn't yet wanted to date me…"

"Positive attitude."

Seth got out of the car and started walking towards their apartment. He turned to look at Marissa, who was still sitting in the car. "Are you coming?"

She shook her head, then stuck it out the window to respond to him. "I think it's better if you talk to her about this alone."

"Chicken," Seth muttered as he continued his walk.

He reviewed all that he wanted to say in his head before opening the door. He didn't see her anywhere in the living room or kitchen area of the apartment. A part of him wished that she had gone out with Jude or something that caused her to not be home. He headed into his bedroom before going to hers to see if she was perhaps still asleep.

He was rather surprised when he opened the door to see Summer sitting up in his bed. His eyes immediately rested on what she was leafing through, realizing that it was his sketchbook. He wouldn't have really minded her looking through that normally but recently he had started sketching again and a lot of it had been of her. He didn't want her to think of him as creepy.

"Uh, hi." She looked at him, an obvious blush on her face. "Sorry. I didn't mean to be looking at these…"

"It's all right."

The awkward silence that both thought that they had gotten past, once again came back full force. Seth shifted awkwardly from foot to foot for a few minutes and Summer just sat underneath his covers, staring at him.

"Cohen-" she started before Seth started speaking.

"Um, can I say something first?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"I'm sorry about how I acted yesterday. It was totally uncalled for and I didn't mean to do anything that upset you."

"That's all right. I just-"

He continued on talking. "Marissa and I were talking about everything that's been going on lately last night. We kind of decided that for a while, it might be the best for me to move out."

"M-move out?"

He nodded his head. "I think it's a good idea. This way we'll be apart for a while and we won't have any more problems."

"But-but…"

"You can still call me at any time if you need me. Especially if anything happens to you or the baby."

Summer sat on the bed in shock and Seth didn't really blame her. He felt more horrible than he had ever before in his entire life.

He knew that her eyes were on him the whole time he threw some clothes into his bag. He didn't know what to do or say to her to make her feel better.

Truthfully, what he wanted to do was to kiss her and confess that he didn't want to leave. He knew he couldn't do that though, so he refrained.

Finally, his bag was completely packed. He looked at Summer, who hadn't changed positions.

"Um, so I'll stop by sometime this week to see how you are, okay? Just to make sure that everything's all right."

Summer nodded her head, as this was the only thing she was really capable of at that moment. Seth looked at her one last time before leaving the apartment. He walked down to the car where Marissa was still sitting, waiting for him.

"Hey how did everything go?" she questioned, as he threw his bag in the car.

"How did it go?"

"Yea. How did she take it?"

"Well, it went well. Pretty much I feel like the shittiest person alive right now for doing this to her."

Marissa frowned. "Well…"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore. I can't. Just drive away."

Marissa followed what he said. Seth rested his head against the window. He wished that things hadn't gotten so screwed up between them. If he could he would go back and take his window of opportunity, like Jude had been saying. He wished he could get that opportunity back.

* * *

Summer watched as Seth walked out of the apartment. She couldn't believe him. He had just told her he was leaving her.

She wasn't sure if it hurt more that he was leaving her or that she had been about to tell him her true feelings just as he did so.

Now, not only was she heartbroken, she was alone. She wanted him to come back more than anything at that moment. She just wished that everything could go back to the way it had been before Jude had come into the picture. She wished it could all go back.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own The OC.

A/N-Ah, sorry this took a little longer than normal to update. Here it is now though. Also, in this chapter there is mention of baby names in this chapter and I wanted to say that if anyone had any suggestions for a name to go ahead and suggest it. I have a couple of ideas in mind but I'm not set on anything yet, so any suggestions would be great. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and to Meg for editing. Reviews are always appreciated.

* * *

Seth's arm was numb. It had fallen asleep, unlike the rest of him, and it hadn't woken back up.

He blamed the dog that was lying on his arm at the moment.

He tried to shift but he couldn't. He sighed, incredibly frustrated at the moment. He hated Marissa's couch, her dog, but most of all, her stupid plan.

Because, so far, it had been a month, and they weren't any closer to him getting with Summer than he had been before. In all actuality, he was farther from getting together than ever before. Considering he hadn't seen her in, oh, a month, when this whole ridiculous plan started.

He missed Summer. A lot. Even though he had said he wanted to still see her and stuff, she had been ignoring his phone calls, and was barely talking to Marissa. This was not how it was supposed to be. According to Marissa, OGSST was supposed to be bringing her to him because she realized that she loved him. So far, it was failing miserably.

Seth wanted to go back to the apartment. He was barely sleeping at night anymore because he was worried about her and if she was all right sleeping alone. And he missed his bed. A lot. Marissa's couch was a piece of crap. And her dog, which she had gotten after Summer moved out, could not accept the fact that he now had a couch buddy, hence why he was currently sleeping on Seth.

He wanted to go back. This was the last time that he was going to listen to someone's crazy plan about how to start a relationship. He always knew that Marissa was slightly delusional--this proved it. And he was even more delusional as he went along with the plan.

He glanced at the clock, realizing that he could probably start getting ready for work now. He picked the dog up off his arm and started to gain feeling back in it.

"Seth are you up?" Marissa stepped into the room.

"Unfortunately, I've been up for the past five hours. When can we get my bed from Summer?"

"I told you we weren't going to do that because you'll be moving back there anyway."

Seth rolled his eyes. "Yea, like that's going to happen."

"Stop being a pessimist about this situation Seth. Come on. Think positively."

He just glared at her. It was too early and he was too tired to even reply to that.

"I have some good news though. I just got off the phone with Summer, in a semi-civil conversation."

"Why is she calling you this early? Is everything all right? Is the baby all right?"

"Yes, yes, she's fine. She wanted to tell you that she had a doctor's appointment yesterday and that every thing is all right. She even said something about you going over there for a little while or something."

"Really?"

"Well, that was before I kind of told her that we had started dating and then she hung up on me. That's why the conversation was only semi-civil."

"You what now?!"

"Well, it was part of the plan."

"This plan is so screwed up Marissa. So totally and completely screwed up, you do realize that right?"

"No, it's not because it's going to work."

"What it's going to do is cause Summer to hate me and then I'll never get to see my kid."

"Give it another week or two okay? Because we've had a lazy month, due to your lack of motivation for this whole plan."

"Lack of motivation? No, I just didn't want to go along with a crazy person's absurd plan."

She ignored him. "We're going to seriously start on the whole Jude thing tonight. Before I broke the news, Summer had asked us to go over there because Jude had this thing tonight at this place. So we're going to follow him."

"Now it's official. You're insane."

"No, it's a good idea. I know originally you said you didn't want to do anything like this but it's a good plan. Well, it's our only plan."

"So we're going to stalk Jude to find out if he has any shady business going in his life, even though he is a nice guy and I was just an ass to him?"

"Yea, pretty much."

"You are ridiculous."

"I know. But trust me. If we get some sort of dirt on him, this will work out so much better for you."

Seth sighed. He was definitely delusional, considering her was about to give into this plan. "Fine. Where is this all taking place?"

"That's a surprise."

"I should at least know where I'm going to be stalking a person so I can prepare for it."

"Somehow that sentence made it sound like you've done something like this before."

"Er, no. Well, it's a possibility."

"Great, it will make this ten times easier if you actually know what you are doing. Come here after you get out of work and then we'll go."

Seth sighed as Marissa walked into the bathroom. He was surely going to have an interesting night.

* * *

"Okay, Marissa, this is officially not possible."

"It is, it is."

"We have to find him in an amusement park where there are a crap load of people? Tell me, how is this possible."

"We just have to spot him and then we can follow him."

"Right. You do that. I'm going to go and get a sno cone."

"We don't have time for that."

"But I can't not get a sno cone. They're so delicious."

"We can get one later. Right now we have a mission."

"Did you have fantasies of being a spy as a young child and are you just using me to fulfill these fantasies or something? Because that's what it seems like to me."

"No. Come on. We have to find him."

Seth reluctantly followed Marissa. She weaved him in and out of the crowds, looking for Jude. Seth had lost interest almost immediately and had started to look for a place to buy a sno cone.

"Look, I see him!" she exclaimed after about 20 minutes of walking randomly.

Seth squinted to where she was pointing and sure enough Jude was there. He was by himself and just standing by the entrance to the Ferris Wheel.

"Well, look. He's not doing anything shady, he's waiting to go on the Ferris Wheel. Can I get my sno cone now?"

"No. We need to get closer. Maybe he's meeting someone."

"I doubt that."

As soon as he had said that, a man walked up to Jude. Marissa just gave Seth a look, who shook his head.

"Let's go closer to hear what they are saying."

Seth followed her again, though this time he did have to admit that he was a little curious about what was going on with Jude and Random Guy.

They hid behind a large sign, close to the two. They couldn't hear the whole conversation, considering all the screaming that was happening from the rides.

"Here's your…"

"Thanks. What's he been saying?"

"Good…but…month or two…"

"Damn this sucks!" Seth exclaimed. "I want to know what they're saying full out."

"Sh!"

"Well…thanks…see you…tell him…"

A few more words were exchanged, but neither caught what it was. Jude walked away, Random Guy following a few minutes later.

"Well that was pointless. Can I go get my sno cone now?"

"Wait a second." Marissa walked to where the two had just been standing and grabbed something off of the ground.

"What is it?"

"Jude dropped this. It's a note or something. It has Dr. Roberts's phone number on it."

"Summer's dad?"

"That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Why would Jude have his phone number?"

Seth shrugged. "I have no clue. That's a mystery as is Jude apparently."

"We didn't find out anything about him tonight."

"As was predicted by me, because he is a nice guy."

"There has to be a reason why he has Dr. Roberts's phone number. It just doesn't make sense for him to randomly have it."

"I don't know. How about we go get sno cones and debate the fact that there could be reasoning behind this all."

Marissa rolled her eyes. "Fine let's go."

* * *

Seth knocked apprehensively on the apartment door. He didn't know if Summer was actually going to want him to come inside or what. He wanted to see her though, wanted to talk to her a little.

The door opened and for a minute Summer seemed shocked to see him standing there. She quickly recovered.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came here because I haven't talked to you in a month and I kind of wanted to see you."

"You could still be seeing me every day if you hadn't moved out."

Seth sighed. "Listen, it was a stupid and rash decision, I'll admit that."

"Just like deciding to date my best friend was."

"I don't want to argue with you right now. I just want to see you. So can I please come in?"

She walked back to the couch, though didn't say anything to him about not coming inside, so he followed her. He hesitated before taking a seat on the couch with her.

He looked at the coffee table in front of them and noticed that there was a baby name book. He smiled slightly, but it wasn't a happy smile. He wasn't there with Summer like he should have been, helping her pick out names for their baby.

"So you've been looking at some names I take it?"

"Yea, just a little. I was…well never mind."

"You were what?"

"I was waiting for you to come by so we could talk about names and everything, because as pissed as I am at you, you deserve to have some sort of say. You just never came by to see me, even though you said you would."

"You never picked up when I called."

"Yea, because I was mad. If you would have come by I would have let you in but you never did."

Seth was never going to understand her messed up logic but he wasn't going to comment on it. He didn't want to make her even angrier at him at that moment.

"Well, I'm here now. Can we look together?" he asked quietly, hoping more than anything that she would agree.

She hesitated for a minute before answering. "I suppose." She grabbed the book off of the table, handing it to him. "I have a short list of names that I like so far, you can add to it."

Seth looked at this list, then at her. "Summer, this isn't a short list. There's at least 100 names on here."

She shrugged. "There's a lot of names that I like. This is an important thing, I'm not going to just pick a random name. I want our baby to have a good name."

"All right, all right, I gotcha." He turned his attention back to the list for a minute, then thought of something. "Summer, can I ask you a question about Jude?"

She sighed. "I don't really want to talk about him."

"It's a just a question and I will not say anything about him, other than this one little question."

"Fine, go ahead."

"Has he met your father?"

She gave him a strange look. "No, he hasn't. I haven't even talked to him since that night he came here. Why do you want to know if he met him?

"Oh, I was just wondering if he had the pleasurable experience of being frightened by him. Apparently not. Back to baby names now."

The whole Jude having Dr. Roberts's phone number had just become a lot more interesting. He almost wanted to call Marissa and tell her this little piece of information, but he decided against it. He was spending time with Summer now, something that he wanted to do more than anything really. He didn't want to think about the plans that he was currently partaking in. He just wanted to think about his baby and Summer--because they were really all that mattered.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own The OC.

A/N-Sorry this wasn't updated for a month, I honestly didn't realize that a whole month had passed since I updated it last. I'll try to be more timely on my next update. Thanks for the reviews and a super big thanks to Meg for editing this!

* * *

"Okay, so far, we have very little information on Jude," Marissa said, pacing the living room.

"We have a half conversation and a phone number that belongs to Dr. Roberts," Seth added. "So we basically have jack shit on him. Perhaps he needed the number to ask him something about Summer."

"Maybe he wants to propose and ask her father before he does?" Marissa mused.

"Don't even say that."

"Right. Sorry. That was a stupid remark. Well, we officially have nothing to go on," Marissa sighed.

"I wish we could know what they were saying in that conversation."

Marissa stopped pacing for a minute. "Oh! I bet we can. Last night, when you were getting our sno cones, I wrote everything they said down!"

"You wrote it down?" Seth questioned.

"Yes. I forgot I did that until right now. I thought we could use it for something." She went to her purse, grabbing out a napkin. "Here it is."

Seth took the napkin from her, studying the words for a minute, trying to decipher what was going on in the conversation.

"Okay, I think I've got it!"

"All right, enlighten me."

"First, Random Guy said, "Here's your ham." which was followed by Jude saying, "Thanks. What's he been saying?" which we already knew he said as we heard it. Random Guy then said, "Good ol' chap but for month or two you sucked there." Then Jude replied, "Well, lover, thanks much. I'll be seeing you soon, tell him I hope he doesn't catch an STD.""

Marissa blinked a few times. "Can you take this seriously for a minute?"

"No, because it's ridiculous," Seth replied. "There's no way we can figure out what they were saying. I think we should just leave this all alone. We're obviously not meant to know what's going on."

"But this could cost you your chance with Summer, you do realize that?"

He shrugged. "If it does, it does."

"Are you seriously giving in?"

"I don't know. I don't want to mess with things and I really don't want to hurt Summer more than I already have."

"If you think about it, she could get even more hurt by Jude if he is doing something."

Seth contemplated this. "Why must you make such a good argument?"

"It's in my job description as plan-maker and best friend," Marissa said. "Though, I don't think Summer really wants me as her best friend anymore."

"She'll get over it. Eventually. I hope."

"I hope so too, for both of our sakes. We need to get cracking on this plan to expose Jude though. We want you back with Summer and Baby as soon as possible."

"We picked out a couple of names last night," Seth said.

"What?"

"Last night. When I went over there, we looked at baby names, and we both picked out what names we liked."

"Did you decide on any names yet?"

He shook his head. "We decided to wait until she's born to fully decide."

Marissa nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Speaking of plans…"

"All right, all right, I get it. Geez, the way you're acting, you'd think that you're the one who is hopefully going to end up with Summer." He peered at her suspiciously. "You're not trying to get with Summer through this, are you? Because that would be awkward on so many different levels."

"God no. I went through the girl stage when I was in high school."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Please, do tell. Do you happen to have any pictures while you're at it? Visuals help so much in stories like these."

"Shut up, Seth. I just want Summer to be happy. She deserves to be happy, after all of the jerks she's dated. And I know that she would be happy with you. And I'm not just saying that because she's going to have your kid and all. I can honestly tell that she would be happy to spend the rest of her life with you."

"Thanks. I hope that too."

"To do that, we just have to go through with this plan."

"How about we actually figure out what is going on with Jude first?"

"Yea. Well, that's what I meant for us to do."

"Where to start?"

Marissa looked at the crumpled sheet of paper and the napkin. "I have no clue."

* * *

Seth moved his leg up and down anxiously. He was waiting for Marissa and her boyfriend to come back to the apartment.

They had, somehow, come up with yet another plan. Seth was pretty certain that if he ever did something like this, he wasn't going to involve Marissa.

Though, he had to admit, this part of the plan was better than anything else he had heard. It at least didn't involve any craziness--or at least any that he knew of. She could have her own idea that she just decided to not tell him about.

He heard the apartment door open and he immediately sat up, looking to see Marissa and her boyfriend Chris walk inside. Marissa looked pretty pleased with herself, something he happily noted.

"How did it go?"

"We got all of the information we ever needed and then some."

"So, what did you do to get it?"

"We followed the plan exactly. Chris went to his house, told him that guy who worked for Dr. Roberts had sent him, and he was let inside."

"It was that simple."

"Apparently, it worked out a lot better than we had ever planned considering so far most of our plans have been--"

"Rather screwed up?"

"I was going to say faulty, but screwed up works too."

"So…what did you find out?"

Marissa bit her lip, suddenly hesitant to tell him. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"No, I'm just asking you because I don't want to know at all. C'mon, just tell me."

She sighed. "Fine. Well, Chris went in there and asked him about the guy who paid him. He said that he was told to go to find out where he could meet that guy. And then Jude wondered if Dr. Roberts sent him…"

"And…?" Seth prompted.

"Chris said yes and then Jude asked him about what. Luckily, Chris can think on the spot and came up with some ridiculous lie about working on a project for him. Jude seemed to believe it. And then Chris asked what he was doing for Dr. Roberts…"

"You know, Marissa, this whole trailing off thing is really starting to piss me off."

"Dr.RobertsispayingJudetodateSummer."

"Huh?" Seth looked at her, bewildered at what she had just said.

"Dr. Roberts has been paying Jude to date Summer."

"Wait…what do you mean?"

"Jude explained it to Chris. After he met you, he, I guess, really didn't like you."

"Yelling at him probably didn't help that one out."

"Well, the next day, he felt bad about yelling at Summer and so he went to her work. She wasn't there--"

"It was her day off," Seth muttered.

Marissa eyed him, surprised he remembered that, but continued on. "But he ran into Jude. They started talking and--"

"Why would he want to talk to Jude but not me?"

"You wanted to hear this so will you stop interrupting me?"

"Sorry."

"So, they got to talking and Jude mentioned something about how he didn't like you for the fact that you got Summer pregnant."

"He didn't even know who I was then."

"Seth."

"Right, sorry."

"And, apparently, Dr. Roberts got it into his head that Jude would be the perfect person to keep the two of you apart, even though Jude expressed the fact that he had only platonic feelings for Summer. So, in the end, they worked out some sort of deal that Jude had to keep her away from you as long as possible. It wasn't supposed to be anything permanent, just to drive you away from her and the baby."

"Are you freakin kidding me?"

"I honestly wish I was."

"How could he be so horrible?"

Marissa shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I've known Dr. Roberts practically my whole life and he almost married my mom…I didn't think he could be this vicious. I know he's protective of Summer but--"

"This is a little much," Seth completed.

"Just a little. I just can't believe he would hate you that much to pay someone to get her away from you."

"Perhaps it's the whole, I got her pregnant and we're not even dating each other type thing? I don't know."

"Her dad has always hated the people she dated. Granted, you two weren't dating, but still. He threatened to…well never mind."

"No. Tell me what he threatened to do?"

"Well, there was this one time where he threatened to have the guy killed. But he was just kidding. He made other threats to Summer's boyfriends all the time that were sometimes serious. Like the one where he said the guy was going to get arrested and then the next day he was."

"Dr. Roberts has that much power?" Seth gulped.

"No, he was caught with drugs."

"Thank you for freaking me out for nothing."

She shrugged. "What are we going to do about the whole him paying another guy to get you away from Summer?"

"Um…tell her?"

"Are you sure you want to?"

Seth's eyes widened. "You made me go through all of this crap and now you don't want to tell her?!"

"I don't want to hurt her."

"Jesus Christ, Marissa, we've already hurt her with these screwed up plans of yours."

"I know but--"

"But what? You made me move out of there, from the girl I am falling in love with, so that I could get with her. It hasn't worked for a month. I want it to work. I want to be with her and my kid so we can be a family--albeit a rather screwed up one. If the only way I'm going to be able to do that is telling her about her boyfriend, then so be it. Plus, we're hurting her more by not telling her. He's just going to break her heart if we let her get more involved with him."

Marissa sighed. "Fine. I guess we'll tell her."

* * *

Seth shifted nervously from foot to foot. Though he had the right intentions by telling Summer, it was still a frightening prospect to break this news to her. Just the fact that she wasn't still all that fond of the two of them.

Marissa was five seconds away from hitting Seth. He was making her more nervous. This was the first time she was going to see Summer since this whole plan of hers went in place and she was way nervous about it. She had a feeling the results weren't going to be very pretty either, but she hated to break that to Seth. He was so anxious about revealing the whole Jude thing and she didn't want to ruin that for him.

He knocked on their apartment door, waiting impatiently for her to come to the door. The door finally opened, after what seemed like an eternity to him.

She had her hands on her hips when she saw them and glared at them. Obviously, she wasn't too pleased to see them.

"What do you two want?" she was looking directly at Marissa, who was receiving the majority of the glare.

"We came to see how you're doing," Seth started. "So…how are you doing?"

"I'm doing just fine actually. Can you leave now? I have company."

"Actually, it's really important what we need to talk about. Who's your company?"

"Jude," Summer muttered.

Seth's face practically lit up with excitement. This was even better. "Can we please come in? I think Jude won't mind what we're about to tell you."

She sighed. "Fine. But five minutes. It better be brief."

She walked away from the door, obviously they were supposed to follow. They walked inside and saw Summer quietly whispering something in Jude's ear. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Seeing him do that made Seth's blood boil. He couldn't help it. He had no right to kiss her, to be sitting next to her.

It was a good thing that he wasn't anything like Ryan or Jude probably would have been on the floor already.

Instead, Seth walked over to where the two were sitting, Marissa trailing closely behind him. She wanted to hang back. This was Seth's fight for Summer. She had officially just pulled herself out of it.

"What do you want to tell me?" Summer questioned, looking up at him.

He took a deep breath before beginning. "First, Marissa and I aren't dating."

"What you broke up?" Marissa was pretty certain she was the only one who caught the slightly excited gleam in Summer's eye at this statement. It almost made her smile--she _knew _that Summer liked Seth. This just proved it.

She loved when she was right.

"I mean, we never dated at all."

"You what now?"

Marissa just realized something else important. She was pretty sure Seth was about to spill his heart out to Summer. This probably was the best thing to precede the whole "Jude is an ass who is getting paid to date you" speech.

"We pretended. It was all a fake."

"Why in the hell would you do something like that?"

"Because I'm kind of sort of really in love with you."

Summer was silent. She looked up at Seth and Marissa could tell by the look in her best friend's eyes that she was pissed about this.

"But that's not all!" Seth jumped in before Summer could say anything. "We--meaning me and Marissa but actually mostly Marissa--"

Of course he would blow her in. He just had to. And from the look on Summer's face, she was not pleased with Marissa at all.

"--came up with this plan after that night at the restaurant. Marissa decided that I would move out, so that you would somehow think that something was going on. And then, she told you that we had been secretly dating, even though it was a lie.

"And then, we came up with an idea to find something on Jude. Because admit it, there has to be something wrong with him or something. So we kind of followed him at the amusement park the other night."

"I knew someone was following me," Jude muttered.

"Yea, Marissa's pretty bad at following people. Me, on the other hand, I was--"

"No one cares, Seth," Summer interrupted. "Just go on. Please. I would like to hear a very valid reason as to why you were stalking my boyfriend."

"Oh, I have a very valid reason. Your father has been paying Jude to date you."

Summer just blinked a few times. "Seriously, if you're going to come up with a lie, at least make it a believable one."

"I'm not lying. This is the truth."

"It is. We found him talking to someone and then my boyfriend, Chris, went to talk to Jude today. He told Chris everything."

Summer looked between the three of them. She was confused and had no clue what to believe at that moment. Finally, she spoke.

"Why should I believe you guys? You already lied to me once before and I doubt that anything will stop you from doing it again."

Seth was starting to get frustrated. "Summer, just listen to me. The night after the big fight with your father, he went to find you, but it was your day off. He ran into Jude and told him how much he hated me. Your dad offered to pay him to date you to get you away from me."

Summer bit her lip, hesitating. She was starting to feel doubtful of everything. "I…don't think my dad would do something like that to me."

"Sum. Come on. It's your dad. He got a guy arrested once."

"He had drugs! It wasn't my dad," Summer remarked. She caught the look on Jude's face. "It wasn't like I knew about the drugs or anything."

"But, anyway, the point is that he is capable of this. And he did it. Jude told us the whole story."

"Why don't you speak up for yourself, Jude?" Seth questioned.

Jude sighed and looked unhappy. Marissa took this as a good sign.

"Fine. I did it."

Summer looked at him. "You seriously have been paid by my dad to date me?"

Jude nodded. "But you have to understand, Sum. My wife divorced me last year and moved out of state. She didn't give a second thought to our kids, just left them with me. I needed more money, my income honestly hasn't been cutting it. The offer came and I took it. I couldn't help it, I honestly needed the money. But Summer…"

"Don't, I don't want to hear about it." She got up and walked away from them. Her bedroom door slammed closed behind her.

The three stayed in the room for a minute, a tense silence overtaking them. No one made any move to do anything.

"What the hell did you do that for man?" Jude finally said.

"Do what? Tell Summer something she deserved to know?"

"She didn't need to know. She was fine without knowing."

"You're a bastard, you know that? It was hurting her, not knowing."

"Like knowing is going to hurt her any less. And it wasn't like I was continuing with the payments. I called the guy this afternoon, after Chris left. I told him that I had taken my last payment four days ago. I was going to start dating Summer on my terms. She was never going to know anything about the money."

"Your relationship would have been made up of lies and dishonesty then."

"And like yours isn't?"

"What do you mean by that?" Seth narrowed his eyes at Jude.

"You told her that you were dating her best friend. You never told her your real feelings."

"At least I can admit them."

Marissa couldn't take it anymore. She stepped between the two. "Okay, stop it. Summer can probably hear you guys, these walls are paper thin. You're probably making everything worse." She turned to look at Jude. "Get out of here. If Summer wants to see you or talk to you, she can call you. Just go now."

Jude didn't object, grabbing his things and leaving the apartment. Marissa turned to talk to Seth next.

"I'm leaving. I don't think Summer wants me here anymore. She probably doesn't want you either," she pointed out.

"I'm staying. I need to talk to her."

"Fine. But if she punches you or something, don't come crying to me. I will just tell you I told you so."

"Bye."

Seth took a seat on the couch. He was going to wait until she came out. He needed to talk to her about everything, considering he hadn't meant to say that he loved her. That was a total whim type thing. He needed to know what she thought of everything.

He was going to wait.

* * *

It was well into the night by the time Seth heard Summer's door open. He was still sitting on the couch, reading one of the parenting books she had lying around. He put it down as soon as he heard her.

"What are you still doing here? It's almost midnight."

"Ah, that means nothing to me."

"I don't want you here."

"Summer, I think we need to talk."

"About what? You lied to me, Marissa lied to me, Jude lied to me. I think that pretty much covers everything."

"We have way more to talk about."

"Seth, you don't understand. You lied to me about dating my best friend. I was devastated when I found out."

"I was devastated when I found out that you were dating Jude."

"That doesn't change what you guys did."

"Sum, I tried to tell you. I did. But I would lose my nerve every time. Then you were with Jude and that day at the restaurant was horrible. I realized that I never was going to get to be with you if I didn't do anything."

"You would have gotten somewhere if you had said something! I mean, I'm having your kid."

"But I didn't think you would. And you wouldn't have. You were with Jude. It wouldn't have mattered. It wouldn't have done anything. Okay, so, Marissa's plan wasn't the best idea in the whole world. Okay, actually it was rather crappy, but it worked. The whole thing with Jude was an added bonus."

"You just don't get it, do you?"

"What?"

"This whole thing hurts a lot. I have Jude, who was getting paid by my father to date me. And you, well, I think you can gather why you hurt me so much. And then there's Marissa, who I've known practically my whole life, taking the guy who I'm falling in love with away--"

She stopped talking, realizing what she had said. Seth's eyes widened.

"Wha-what?"

"Whatever. Forget I said anything."

"Oh no. I can't forget this. Tell me."

She gave a frustrated sigh. "Fine. You want to know what? The night that you told me you were moving out for a while? I was ready to tell you how I really felt. I was ready to call Jude up, tell him, sorry but I was meant to try with you."

Seth couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was falling in love with him. Him. She was going to break up with Jude.

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"You were moving in with my best friend!"

"But you could have stopped me."

She shook her head. "I couldn't have. You were determined, so I didn't say anything."

"God. I can't believe you didn't stop me." He took a step closer to her. "Is there any possible way…we can try it? Pretend none of this ever happened? Go back to the first day we met."

She gave him a sad smile. "We can't do that, Cohen. There's too much that's happened between us. We just can't go back."

"We can't even try?"

"No. We can't. And I don't want to. I think it'll be better if we stop seeing one another completely."

"What do you mean completely." He felt like his heart had just stopped at these words.

"I really don't want to see you at all anymore. Once the baby's born, I'm not going to stop you from seeing your kid, but until then…please just stay away. It'll be better this way."

"Summer, no," he started to plead.

"Seth. Just go. Please. Don't make this any harder than it is."

"You're actually having difficultly completely kicking me out of your life?"

"Of course! God. You don't understand half of what I am feeling right now. So, please. Just go."

He didn't say another word, just walked out of the apartment. He took his phone out to call Marissa, so that he could get a ride.

Normally, while he was waiting, he would start to think of some way he could convince Summer to change her mind. This time, it was all different.

This time, he only had the words that Summer had said to him running through his head. He couldn't get the words out of his head. He knew she meant it all too. He knew what he was going to do about this too.

He was going to give up on everything.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C.

A/N-This chapter is basically a filler chapter. Thanks for the reviews for the previous chapter and to Meg for editing! Please review!

* * *

Summer tried to skip out on work. She had no desire to have Jude plead with her or try to talk to her. She didn't want to hear any excuses he gave her.

She didn't want to really talk to any males at all. She was officially hateful of all males. She was suddenly even more thankful that she was going to be having a girl, due to the fact that she couldn't hate her own child.

She didn't skip out on work though, because now that she had told Seth to go away, she had to make sure that she actually had some sort of money. Everything was a mess so she needed to somehow make sure that she didn't get herself into an even deeper mess.

She sat at her desk, working diligently, even though she was dead tired. She had barely slept over the past four nights. She was going to just continue working on everything until she got it done though. She didn't even want to talk to anyone at all.

Of course, despite how much she wanted that to happen, it didn't happen.

Jude walked over to her desk, leaning against it. He was obviously trying to get her attention, something that she was not going to give him.

"Summer, can we please tall?" he asked finally.

"What is there even to talk about? I heard it all, I don't need to hear anymore.'"

"But I was going to stop having your dad pay me. I didn't want the money anymore. I was honestly enjoying your company."

She just stared at him for a minute, unable to think of a response. She was pretty sure the response she wanted to give him wasn't work appropriate, so she tried to refrain.

"Shouldn't that give me some sort of points or something?"

Jude was pretty lucky that there was nothing pointy around or something that could smash his fingers, as Summer was almost certain she would have used it on him. Instead, she decided to just lash out at him, as it seemed safer for both of them.

"You're an ass if you think that you deserve something for wanting to stop dating me for money. Thank you for making me seem sort of like a prostitute, I really appreciate that. You not only did that, but you pretty much aided in screwing up a good relationship that I could have had. Thanks for that."

"Hey, you can't blame me for you not being with Seth. You two managed to screw that one up all by yourselves."

"Would you please get away from my desk. I'm tired and cranky and those are never a good combination when I'm pregnant, so this moment, they're rather multiplied. Unless you want this cup," she tapped the mug sitting on her desk, the first thing she saw, "thrown at you, I advise that you do this."

He looked as if he wanted to say something more to her, but decided against it, backing away from her. She turned back to her work, ignoring the whispers that were swirling around her. She was almost certain that had come out a lot louder than she had wanted.

A shadow fell over her desk and she couldn't believe that he was coming back to her desk. This was getting a little ridiculous.

"I was serious about the throwing thing."

"We come in peace."

Of course. Abbey and Reagan. It wasn't like her day could get any worse, so why not throw them into the mix.

"Sorry. I thought you were Jude."

"We know. We heard your little lover's spat with you threatening him with the mug. What's that all about?" Abbey questioned.

"I honestly do not want to talk about it."

"Please, you need to talk to someone about it," Reagan commented.

"Unless, you're going to talk to Marissa instead of us?"

"Or maybe Seth?"

"I'm not really talking to either of them at this moment," Summer muttered.

Both gasped. Summer rolled her eyes. Never before had she met two people so overly dramatic about things that didn't involve them.

"You definitely need to talk to us then."

"Not right now."

"Well, that's actually good. You know why?"

Summer felt like she wasn't going to like the response Reagan was about to give her. She really didn't want to know.

"We're going to have a girls' night!"

Abbey squealed in delight. "Yes! We were going to have one tonight anyways, it's perfect."

"But…but we have to work tomorrow."

Reagan rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about that. It'll be fine. Whose apartment?"

"How about Summer's? After all, she's the whole reason we're doing this, it would be a lot better to do it there. Plus, she's pregnant and all, we want her to be where she is most comfortable."

"No…I have Pancakes. Aren't you allergic Abbey?" Summer was desperate at this point. She needed some sort of excuse to be able to spend her night alone.

"No! Pancakes is just the cutest little thing," Abbey said. "I'm allergic to cats."

Now she really wished that she had gone with a cat instead of a bunny. It was just like her to do something like this.

"Um, I…have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning! Really early in the morning. Like…six in the morning early." She was not above lying at this moment.

"No, you don't Summer."

"How do you know that?"

Reagan pointed to the calendar on Summer's desk. "There's nothing written on that date. You keep track of everything that's going on in your life with that calendar. You're lying."

"Damn," Summer muttered under her breath.

"Don't worry, we'll have a great time. We'll have girl talk and watch lots of movies. It'll be fun."

"We'll be at your house by six."

"See you then!"

Summer rested her head on her desk. She should have known that she would not be able to get out of this one.

* * *

Summer realized that she really hated girls' nights five minutes after Abbey and Reagan had appeared at her door.

They were all ready to talk about everything that had been going on. Summer didn't want to talk about it so she was being her normal stubborn self and not talking about anything. She had put the first movie in and was watching it, trying to ignore the whispers from the two next to her.

Suddenly the movie paused. Summer glared at the two, knowing they were behind this.

"Okay, we know that you're scary when you're pregnant and all--" Abbey started before she was elbowed by Reagan.

"What Abbey meant to say was, she wants you to talk to us. After all, we are your friends and friends should be able to talk about what's going on in their lives."

Summer sighed. There really was no way she was getting out of this one. She rested her feet on the coffee table and launched into the whole story of what was going on in her life.

"That…asshole!" Abbey exclaimed.

"Just who are you talking about?" Summer questioned.

"I don't know…all of them. I am so sorry Summer. It sucks that you have to go through all of this, especially right now."

Summer nodded, not quite sure what she should say. Thanks for restating that everything really sucks didn't seem quite compassionate enough. She decided it was safer to just make them think she was really emotional about it all and not talk.

Reagan looked up from Pancakes, who was sitting in her lap at the moment. "Did you think about what you're going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what are you going to do about the baby? Are you just going to keep Seth out of it's life."

"I'm not having an it Reagan. I'm having a girl," Summer said annoyed at her coworkers. She didn't want to talk about this.

"Really? You're having a girl?" Abbey squealed. "You didn't tell us that!"

"It must have slipped my mind."

"You should name her after us. Abbey Reagan has a wonderful ring to it."

"Actually, I think Reagan Abbey sounds a lot better."

Summer just smiled at the two, happy for once that they were being their usual self-centered selves as it got her out of answering the question.

"I think I have an idea of what I'm going to name her."

"Oh tell us!" Abbey exclaimed.

She shook her head. "Sorry, not until she's born."

Both sighed, obviously unhappy about this decision. The three sat in a bit of silence for a few minutes, Summer thankful that they seemed to be diverted for the moment. She didn't want to answer the question that she didn't have the answer to.

"So Summer," Reagan started talking, "you didn't answer my question. What are you going to do?"

"Um…"

"You hadn't thought about that when you told him to get out, had you?"

"Um…would you guys like the honest answer?"

"Of course," Abbey replied.

"Well, I hadn't meant for it to go that far. I…I never wanted him out of my life. I kind of um…"

She didn't know why this was so hard to admit. She had already admitted that she had been falling in love with him to him so she didn't understand why it was even hard to say it again.

"You fell in love with him didn't you?"

"No…yes. Maybe."

Abbey and Reagan exchanged a knowing glance.

"Summer, honey, it was obvious that you were in love with him. We could tell that Jude didn't mean all that much to you."

"How could you tell?"

"The way your face would light up when you talked about you and Seth doing something together. You would never be that way when mentioning you and Jude. And hello, you lived in an apartment with the guy for how many months and you're having his kid. I think love was something that was bound to happen."

"Thanks for telling me that it was going to happen, Reagan."

"Oh, you had to find that one out for yourself. And now, you have to figure out what you're going to do?"

Summer didn't want to admit that she hadn't thought it through, yelling at him like that. She didn't want to be without him. She had originally thought of just saying that she needed a break from him for a while longer.

Sometimes, she hated that her temper got the best of her.

She hadn't realized that the tears were spilling out of her eyes until both Abbey and Reagan were hugging her. She was alarmed for a moment until she noticed that they were actually trying to comfort her.

"I never meant for it to get this screwed up," Summer muttered.

"We know," Reagan said, patting her head. "And it will all work out."

Summer looked at her. "It will?"

Even Abbey looked at her, slightly doubtful. "It will?"

Reagan nodded. "I'll make sure it will. We'll think of something right, Abbey?"

"We will?" she received a glare from Reagan. "I mean, we will."

Summer wiped her eyes. "You guys don't have to do anything for me. Really. I don't deserve anyone's help."

"Oh but you do. Because if you don't have someone helping you, then you're going to end up raising baby Reagan Abbey alone and we can't let that happen."

That had managed to make Summer smile. "I am not naming her Reagan Abbey. Nice try though."

"Can I at least call her that until she's born and we know her real name?"

Summer laughed. "Sure. If that makes you feel better."

"Okay."

"Wait, I think it should be Abbey Reagan!"

The two started bickering and Summer just listened to them. For once, she wasn't annoyed by it. They were her only friends at the moment, the friends that were going to help her out. Even though she doubted they could fix the mess that she had gotten herself in, it was nice to know that there were people there for her.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C.

A/N-Sorry for the month between the updates. One day I won't have incredibly large gaps between chapters. This is kind of a filler chapter again, but next chapter (which I have almost finished) will contribute more to the story, I promise. Thanks for the reviews for the previous chapter!!

* * *

Seth stumbled into the apartment, trying to be as quiet as possible. That seemed to be rather difficult, considering he stumbled right on top of the dog.

"Oops. Shh, doggie, be quiet," he attempted a whisper, but along with controlling his motor skills, he was having problems controlling the volume of his voice.

The dog wouldn't stop barking and Seth continued to try and quiet it down. That really wasn't going so well, as he heard the bedroom door open up.

He looked at the dog, who had stopped barking at the sudden noise. "Uh-oh."

Marissa appeared in front of him, pulling her robe on, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She looked at him, lying on the floor while holding onto the dog.

"Seth, what the hell are you doing?"

"I fell."

She sighed. It had happened again. Practically every night, since Summer had told him everything was over, he had gone out drinking, coming home drunk. She had been fine with it the first night, but the second, third, fourth, and now fifth night was getting a little more than ridiculous.

Especially considering he would then lay on her couch all day, calling in sick to work. She was almost positive that he was going to lose his job, if he hadn't already.

"Seth, this has got to stop."

"Me falling?"

"No, you coming home drunk. I can't handle another night of your moaning about Summer and how much you screwed up."

She hadn't realized that she had mentioned Summer's name until she noticed the look on his face. Great. He was probably going to cry now.

"I miss Summer."

"I know. You've told me everyday now." She helped him get up, taking a hold of him to lead him to the couch.

"I screwed up."

"Yes you did. I did too. We all screwed up."

"I screwed up really badly though."

"I know." She had learned that agreeing with him was the smartest option.

She helped him on the couch, pulling a blanket over him, hoping he was going to pass out pretty soon. She wasn't sure how much more of his rambling she could take.

"I mean, I never should have slept with her. I screwed up both of our lives."

"Maybe you didn't."

"No I did. But there's no denying that it was the best sex of my life."

"And this is when you start giving me too much information about my best friend, so I'm going to bed. Good night, Seth."

"But it was," Seth said, his eye lids drooping slowly.

She watched him fall asleep quickly and shook her head sadly. She was going to need to do something to help him out and quickly. He couldn't keep going on like this.

Plus, she was starting to lose sleep and she couldn't let that keep happening.

* * *

_She moaned, the sound making him want her even more. He kissed her neck, biting at her skin. He loved the feeling of her hands running all over his body…_

"Seth! Get up!"

Seth looked up above him, somehow surprised to see that he was on the floor. His head hurt and his elbow, which he was kind of assuming he had landed on.

"Wha?" he tried to figure out why he was looking at Marissa and not Summer.

Then it all came back to him, his head pounding at this thought.

"Go take a shower. By the way you were moaning Summer's name in your sleep, you should make it a cold one," Marissa commented.

He grumbled, not wanting to move from his spot on the floor. When the dog came and started licking his face, he immediately jumped up. That had been a bad idea as his head didn't appreciate it. All he wanted to do was lie back down on the couch and sleep for the rest of the day.

"Seth, go take a shower. Now."

He walked slowly to the bathroom, turning the water on. He stood under the water (almost forgetting to take his clothes off beforehand), letting it wash over him. He wished it could wash off the memories of everything he had done in the past seven months.

Ever since the fight with Summer he kept dreaming of her and usually the dream was of their first night together. It was driving him insane.

Every time he woke up from the dream, he would think back to that night. It was supposed to be just one night, a stupid random…fuck, to put it crudely. That was all he wanted. He hadn't wanted anything to come of it.

He hadn't expected to be having a kid in two and a half months or to fall in love with someone who hated him.

He leaned his head against the tiles. He regretted all that had happened.

He turned the water off, wrapping the towel around his waist. He walked to get his clothes out of his suitcase.

Marissa was sitting on the couch, watching him the whole time. He turned to her, glaring slightly.

"You know, that staring is kind of creepy."

"I'm just trying to figure something out."

"What are you trying to figure out?"

"Why Summer was only going to sleep with you for a night."

"Huh?"

"You're the perfect guy for her, really you are. Definitely better than all of those jerks she dated in high school and college. It's a good thing that you got her pregnant."

Seth sighed. "Except for the fact that she never wants to see me again."

"You give up way too easily, you know that?"

He shrugged. "Whatever. I'm starting to regret that any of this ever happened."

"Really?"

"Yea, Summer probably feels the same way too."

"I think I know Summer well enough to say at this point that the only thing she is regretting is telling you to get out of her life. Trust me; she doesn't have any regrets about the baby."

"I doubt that."

"Just wait and see. Trust me, I have a…"

"I swear if you say plan--"

"--a really good understanding of my best friend. I have known her since I was five after all."

"Whatever."

"Go get dressed. We have to get somewhere."

He didn't respond to her, just going to get changed. When he came out of the bathroom, she was standing waiting for him, mug of coffee in one hand, Tylenol in the other.

"Let's go."

He followed her, feeling sluggish as they walked to her car. He closed his eyes on the way to wherever they were going, trying to block everything out.

He jerked forward when the car stopped abruptly. He pushed his sunglasses up, glaring at Marissa.

"Where the hell did you learn to drive?"

She shrugged. "Whatever. Let's go. We'll talk about my driving skills at a different time."

"You're way too cheerful, you know that?"

"I have a reason to be."

He watched as she went to the back of the car, pulling out his suitcase, which he hadn't realized she had put in the car before.

"What are you doing with that?"

She just smiled at him, walking towards the building. He quickly recognized it as Ryan's apartment.

"What are we doing here?"

"You're moving in with Ryan!"

"What?"

Her smile faded slightly. "I'm sorry, but I honestly can't handle this anymore."

"Can't handle what anymore?"

"You."

"Huh?"

"All you do is mope around about Summer until it's late enough, when you go out and drink. I'm sick of it. I was never responsible for this. I was to help you get with Summer and obviously my plan failed, so it's Ryan's turn now."

"He won't do anything. All he does is spend time with Taylor and work."

"Well, when I talked to him last night, while you were out, he agreed to try and help you." She shoved the suitcase at him. "Have a nice time. I hope everything works out with Summer."

She walked away as quickly as possible, tires squealing as she pulled out of the parking lot. Seth stood there, stunned that he was just abandoned.

"Seth, are you going to stay out here forever?" He turned to look at his brother, who was walking towards him.

"I was intending on it yes."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Come on. The couch is yours."

"I want my freakin bed back. With Summer in it," he muttered.

Ryan ignored him as they walked to the apartment. Taylor was standing in the living room, smiling brightly.

"Hi Seth," she greeted, the smile never coming off her face.

He ignored her, instead choosing to lie down on the couch. He closed his eyes, neglecting to listen to the hushed whispers coming from Ryan and Taylor.

"We'll let you sleep," Taylor finally said, turning out the light.

He was glad he was alone now. It was how he liked it at the moment. Nothing was better than being alone mourning losing Summer.

* * *

"Hey Summer, what are you doing on this date?"

She looked up to see Abbey and Reagan at her desk. They had become regular presences at her desk, something that was annoying her less and less.

She squinted at the day they were pointing to on the calendar. "My birthday?"

"Yea, that day."

"Probably curling up in Se-my bed and eating ice cream while playing with Pancakes," she shrugged.

She was hoping they didn't notice her blush at the fact that she almost spilled the fact that she had slept in Seth's bed every night--except for the one night they had stayed over--since things had turned sour a week ago.

"Right." Abbey stared at her trying to figure out if she was serious or not.

"Sum, we'll be right back. We have something to discuss."

She shook her head, turning her attention back to her work. She paused for a minute, wondering if they ever actually worked. This was going to be something she was going to have to figure out.

"We're taking you out," Reagan declared.

"What?"

"On your birthday silly."

"We're going to go to bars and pick up guys and…" Abbey was cut off by Reagan's elbow hitting her stomach. "Oh. Wait. That's for my birthday. Never mind!"

"We're going to go out for a nice quiet lunch together. We've had these plans for about a week but wanted to make sure and all."

"All right. Lunch would be nice."

They nodded their heads but didn't go away. She looked at them. "Don't you two have work to do?"

"Uh, yea, we just have one question for you."

"What is it?"

"Are you having a baby shower?" Abbey blurted out.

"Uh…probably not."

"What? Why not?"

She shrugged. "I don't have it in me to throw one for myself. It'll be too much. So I'm just forgoing it."

"But what about all of that stuff that you need?"

She shrugged. "I'll figure it out."

The two sighed at the same moment.

"If that's what you want."

"Yes. It's what I want. Now, you guys should seriously work."

Abbey rolled her eyes. "Work?"

"Right. That's where we're going," Reagan commented, dragging Abbey away.

Summer just laughed quietly to herself. As much as they drove her nuts, it was nice to have friends.

* * *

"Seth."

He groaned, not opening his eyes or moving from his spot. He wasn't going to move. He was having the most wonderful dream.

"Seth!"

"Fuck off."

His blankets were ripped off of him. He groaned, turning to see Taylor glaring at him.

"I can't believe you just said that to me," she said as she folded the blankets up.

"You're annoying me."

She glared at him again. "God, I liked it so much better when you weren't crabby and moping about losing Summer. Even when you were freaking out about her being pregnant it was better."

"Whatever."

Ryan came into the room now. "Seth, your work called. If you don't come in today, you're fired."

"Great. Can I go back to sleep now?"

"No. You have to go to work. You need money, because you are going to move back in with Summer soon and then have to help pay for things like the baby and the apartment."

"She's never going to take me back. I gave up, remember?"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "You're ridiculous."

"He knows. He's always been overdramatic. He just doesn't realize Summer does love him."

"No she doesn't. I screwed up that chance too."

"She loves you. You just have to work for her trust again."

"Like that's going to happen."

"It will."

"Right."

Taylor butted into their conversation now. "You two will. You're adorable together and I think that you two will work through this all. You just have to get off your lazy butt to do something about it."

"What could possibly work?"

Ryan and Taylor exchanged a look that Seth could only describe as pure evil.

"We have a plan," Taylor replied.

"What's the plan?"

"You'll find out eventually."

"Was Marissa involved with this in any way? If so, I'm going to say you're screwed already," Seth said, sitting up, finally waking up.

"No. Marissa was not involved at all. It's pure Taylor," Ryan replied.

He squinted at Taylor. "I don't know if that's better or worse."

"Better. Trust us. You just have to wait about two weeks."

"Okay…"

"Now, seriously go to work before you get fired. How would that go over with Summer once you finally get together, telling her you lost your job moping over her?"

"Going to shower right now."

Seth walked away, a small glimmer of hope. Maybe he would be able to get her back. He hoped, or else he was going to find he regretted all of this even more than before.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N-I was going to save this and post it sometime later, since I just realized all of my procrastinating on schoolwork has finally caught up to me, but then I decided to just post it. This may be the last update of anything from me until December due to the fact that November is NaNoWriMo, I probably won't be posting anything, unless I am procrastinating. And I realize that where I left off might be a slightly cruel spot to leave you all for over a month, sorry about that. So thanks for the reviews for the last chapter! Feedback on this would be greatly appreciated!

* * *

"Should we make her close her eyes?" Abbey whispered to Reagan.

"And be responsible for a 7 months pregnant woman falling? Uh, I don't think so. She can keep her eyes open."

Summer glanced at the two. "What the heck are you two talking about?"

"Um, nothing?"

"Why do I never believe those words when it's coming from your mouth?"

"Just keep walking," Reagan urged.

"Yea, you're going too slow."

"Hey." Summer gestured to her stomach. "Baby in here. I can go as slow as I want."

"Fine."

They walked alongside her, trying to urge her forward, but she walked even slower. She liked having control over these types of things.

Finally they reached the door of the restaurant, Abbey bouncing as she opened the door up. Reagan was grinning widely and Summer was, quite frankly, alarmed at their actions.

She walked into what she thought was the restaurant area, but in reality was the banquet hall. She almost jumped back when she saw many familiar faces smiling at her.

"Wha…what's going on?"

"Surprise!" Abbey exclaimed.

She turned to Reagan, expecting a better explanation out of her.

"We wanted to throw you a baby shower. So…it just worked out to have it on your birthday."

Summer felt the tears come to her eyes and she knew she wasn't going to be able to stop them. "This is so nice!"

The two squished her in a hug, crying also. She pulled away from them, laughing. She had never thought she would be such good friends with them. She looked around the room, surprised to see how many people really cared about her to show up.

Reagan led her away from Abbey, bringing her to a table near the front of the room. There were balloons tied on all of the chairs but this one had larger balloons declaring statements about the baby being a girl. Summer immediately took this as her chair, smiling even wider.

Then she looked at the table next to her. She wasn't quite sure how to react when she saw Marissa sitting next to Taylor.

Reagan caught her gaze and gave her an innocent smile. "We thought that she should come along."

Summer glared. This was definitely going to be an eventful baby shower.

* * *

"So where are we going?" Seth questioned.

Ryan gave him an annoyed look. "For the fifteenth time--your parents' house."

"Really?"

"What were you expecting us to do?"

"Well, the old ball and chain is gone for the day so I was thinking we were going to do guy stuff. Not going to see my parents."

Ryan shook his head. He was starting to believe the longer he was alone and going crazy over no more Summer, he was getting more insane. "Kirsten's not there."

"She isn't? Where is she?"

"She's, uh, with Taylor."

"So it's like a guy's day," Seth said slowly, "with my father."

"Right."

He shrugged. "That should be interesting. Just…why my parents house? Couldn't we have had a guy's day without my dad? You know, some Seth/Ryan time because we haven't done that in forever."

"Dude, you're living with me and moaning about Summer 24/7. I think that totally qualifies as permanent Seth/Ryan time."

"No. Taylor is always there, yelling me to shut my mouth."

"Well, she does get annoyed with your constant whining."

"I can't help that I--"

"Seth. Please. Just shut up."

"Fine," Seth said, but continued muttering under his breath.

Ryan rolled his eyes. It was like taking care of a child.

* * *

Summer continued to glare at Reagan and Abbey. They looked incredibly nervous at the looks she was giving, and everyone in the room could notice the tension. There were some sad attempts to cover it up, but nothing was really working.

"Um," Abbey started, unable to take her eyes off of Summer. "We're, uh, gonna…"

"Pop the balloons that are on your chair. Whoever has a picture of Summer…and uh, the father in their balloons win the prize."

"Ready, set, pop!"

Reagan and Abbey sat down on either side of Summer, after popping their balloons unsuccessfully.

"Are enjoying yourself, Summer?" Reagan asked.

"Oh, yea, you know as much as I can enjoy myself at a surprise baby shower where my ex-best friend won't stop staring at me."

"Right. Sorry about that," Abbey commented.

"But, really, we needed to do damage control."

"Damage control?"

These words didn't seem like they should be trusted in those two hands. They seemed to cause more damage than control.

"Yes. Damage control."

"I have Summer," Marissa stepped over to where the three were sitting. "And she has Seth." She pointed to Kirsten who was smiling at Summer.

Summer gulped. She hadn't even seen Kirsten there earlier. Great. She didn't feel comfortable with the woman at all, considering they had talked to one another maybe three times. This was bound to be awkward.

"And you two get to sit here and help Summer with her gifts! Woohoo!" Reagan cheered. She then slowly backed away from Summer, before she could do or say anything.

"And you get to pick a gift from over there. But have fun helping Summer. Chat a bit if you will," Abbey added.

"Uh, we're gonna eat now everyone! Then Summer will open her gifts and all. Talk amongst yourselves."

"You two are dead," Summer muttered. "Nice set up."

"Ah, what can we say?"

"We're manipulative. I mean, really, we're surprised you didn't figure this out earlier," Reagan commented.

"We're basically the most obvious people in the world."

"And now, we're going to go and sit over there, because really, that look you're giving us right now? It's scaring me more than any other look I've ever received from you."

They turned on their heels, practically running to get food. Summer looked from Marissa to Kirsten, not knowing what to say. She decided that going to get food would be her best bet.

As soon as she stood up, Marissa forced her back down. Summer just stared at her, wondering if people would say something if she hit her.

"Sit. We'll get your food. Taylor will stay here to keep you company."

She looked at the girl who had taken a seat next to Marissa's now empty chair. She smiled. At least she had one person she could stand at the table with her now.

"I'm pregnant, not incapable of doing anything."

"They won't listen to you. Much like Seth."

Great. Yet another person on their side. She would have loved to not be totally outnumbered at this moment.

"I can totally understand why you would have kicked him out. Because really, he can be kind of annoying, now that I live with him and all."

"First of all, I didn't kick him out, he left on his own. And second, when did he move in with you?"

"Two weeks ago. Maybe two and a half. Too long if you ask me."

"Why isn't he living with Marissa anymore?"

"Because all he was doing was getting drunk and moaning on and on about you," Marissa came up to the table, placing a plate in front of Summer. "That's why. I couldn't handle it anymore and since you weren't going to take him back in yet, that was my only option."

Summer stabbed her fork into her food. Marissa tried to look away at the violent way she was stabbing it, but it was rather compelling. She was just trying to figure out whose head she was imagining was the food: hers or Seth's.

"So, this is where you all start to talk about your problems and feelings and--"

"Thank you Dr. Taylor."

"Summer," Kirsten started, laying her hand on Summer's shoulder, "have you really thought about this?"

"What?"

"About how you don't want Seth in yours and the baby's lives?"

"It wasn't really a thing that I decided. You know, he could have fought it something. If your son wasn't a whiny…never mind."

Kirsten smiled. "I understand Seth's made a few mistakes. But really, I can tell that he cares about you."

"I know he cares about by his rambling about you every minute he is awake," Taylor added.

"And really, Sum, in that month that you two were apart and didn't talk because he left, I thought he was going to go crazy. He kept coming up to me, asking about the plan and when it was going to be executed."

"That plan of yours was real genius, Marissa. Really, it was you at your finest."

She sighed. "It wasn't supposed to be a bad plan. That whole thing with Jude? That totally was not part of the original plan."

"So what, you just wanted to screw up the one good thing I had going at that moment?"

"No, I was trying to be a good friend by saving you the inevitable heart break. I can't say that that was Seth's intentions. He wanted Jude out of the picture."

Summer sighed. This was too frustrating. "I didn't want any of this."

"What? Seth and I doing all of that? Yea, I know but Sum…"

"No. I mean I didn't want any of this." She gestured around her. "This baby shower. This baby. It's not what I wanted in life. I wanted to be married for a while before the talk of a kid even came about. And, no offense Kirsten, but Seth was not who I had in mind to be the father of my child."

"None taken, I don't think that anyone really ever has him in mind when wanting to father a child," Kirsten said truthfully.

"But really, I didn't want to fall in love with him. At all. I knew that if I did, it would just screw everything up, because he would inevitably break my heart, because it's what all guys eventually do to me."

She let these words sink in, the words that no one could hear echoing in their minds. She picked at her plate, no longer hungry. She just didn't want to be there at all anymore.

* * *

"You know this is not fair. All I wanted was a little PlayStation, perhaps some chatting without Taylor telling me to shut up every two seconds. This is what you give me?"

"Yep," Ryan replied. "See you later."

Seth looked at the door one last time as it closed, wishing he could be on the other side with Ryan. He turned back around to look at his father.

Really, Father/Son time was not what he wanted. Especially since he was almost positive that his father was about to yell at him about Summer. And really, they didn't do Father/Son time. It had happened once that he could really remember and that was after he had sex for the first time. He liked to think of that as more of "this will be the most awkward conversation of your life" time than Father/Son time.

"So…what's this I hear about you being permanently out of Summer's life?"

"Um…whoops? I screwed up?"

"That's obvious. What happened to you helping her out with everything?"

Seth sighed. "That all fell apart. Things got so screwed up and I just left and…yea. I know, I know, you shouldn't have done that, was stupid. I should be responsible for my stupidity."

"Well, yea. But I'm also wondering if you have a plan to get her back?"

"No. Don't you think I would have already been living with her again if I had a plan? Plus I've basically boycotted plans. Even though Ryan and Taylor said they had some sort of plan it seems to have fallen through."

"This was part of their plan."

"What was?" Seth blinked, confused.

"You, talking to me."

"Well, they fail at the plan making. They think that's a good plan? Lame is more like it."

"Marissa, Kirsten, and Taylor are currently talking to Summer. They're trying to fix everything."

"That's going to take a million years and for Summer to not be well…Summer."

"You're giving up. You're a Cohen; you shouldn't give up that easily."

Seth stared at Sandy. "Seriously Dad, the whole "You're a Cohen" thing stopped working when I was ten."

Sandy frowned. "All right. How about this instead: you're going to talk to Summer one way or another when we go to pick your mother and Taylor up from the baby shower."

"There is no way in hell that I am talking to her."

* * *

Summer shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She just wanted to get out of this place but it didn't seem possible with the large mound of gifts sitting next to her. Why had Abbey and Reagan decided to invite so many people to this stupid surprise shower? She was almost positive it was so that she could be held against her will. The only good thing was that she got cake out of it.

"Here's another one." Marissa handed her another gift.

"Thanks," Summer said, her teeth clenched through a tight smile.

She tore the paper off it, revealing what was her fourth blanket of that evening. Her daughter was going to be the warmest baby ever.

She continued through the gifts, trying to tear the paper off as quickly as she could. Finally, the pile diminished, and she was free.

"Thanks for coming everyone, I really appreciate you coming." She stood from her seat and walked—or waddled really—as quickly as she could from the room.

"Summer, where are you going?" Abbey and Reagan called after her.

"Home."

"But, everyone is here for you. Marissa is here. Talk to her."

"How did you two even come up with this crazy plan?" Summer turned around to look at them. "I'm sorry, but you two couldn't possibly have come up with this idea on your own."

Reagan looked over at Abbey. "Well…we might have had some help. From Taylor."

Summer gasped, looking over at Taylor, who had followed them outside. "And to think I actually liked you!"

"I'm sorry Summer. I just…Seth is living in the apartment. I need you two to no longer be on the outs because I seriously can't handle him much longer."

"I want you to keep him."

"Listen, can I talk to Summer alone?" Marissa interrupted them all.

Summer glared at her. "I just want to go home."

"Just give me a couple of minutes."

The other three left and Summer was thinking of the best way to bolt. And she was officially abandoning all of her friends, because seriously they were all back-stabbers in her eyes.

"Okay, Sum, this has seriously got to stop. You're having a baby in just two months. You need to grow up and stop this. I hurt you, Seth hurt you, but it wasn't intentionally. I had no clue that this was going to blow up in our faces. It did and I'm sorry. How many times do I have to tell you this?"

Summer wasn't concentrating on Marissa's apology, though she was focusing on something else that Marissa had said.

She was having a baby in two months.

Holy. Shit.

"Oh my god."

"What? What is it?" Marissa peered at her, her voice full of concern.

"I'm having a baby."

Marissa wasn't really too sure how to respond to this. It was one of those things that she couldn't really think of an appropriate response.

"I'm having a baby," Summer muttered again.

"You would take seven months to realize this," Marissa replied.

"Marissa, I'm going to have a baby. A living breathing thing."

"You shouldn't be having a baby if you're going to refer to her as a thing."

"I can't help it! Two more months of not having another person dependent on me." Summer took a seat on the bench. "And I'm all alone!"

"By your own choice. You're the one who won't let Seth back in."

"But…but…"

"Listen Sum—"

She was interrupted by Taylor coming outside, cell phone in hand. She rushed over to Summer.

"Someone keeps calling you, I figured it was important."

Summer grabbed the phone from her, picking it up. Her face paled as she listened to what was being said to her on the other end.

"I need to go."

* * *

"I'm so pressing charges for kidnapping."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "We didn't kidnap you."

"I'm going against my will. I'm going to call that kidnapping."

He was sitting in the backseat of Ryan's car, where he was put in against his will, hence why he was going to be pressing charges for kidnapping pretty soon. He was being driven to her baby shower, where apparently, everything was going to be fixed because of Taylor and Summer's friends Abbey and Reagan.

Fat chance she was going to forgive him.

He stopped his protesting for a few minutes though and was plotting his escape from the car. As soon as they reached a stop light he could just open the door and roll out and hopefully not be too hurt…

"We're here."

He peered out the window at the restaurant parking lot. He saw Taylor standing with his mom and Marissa but Summer was no where in sight.

She had probably bolted at the thought of him coming to talk to her.

He really didn't blame her.

He followed his father and Ryan out of the car, trying to hang back a little so that he could try to escape but of course Ryan shoved him forward.

"Where's Summer?" he questioned.

"We're not exactly sure. She just kind of left…" Taylor replied.

"I'm a little worried," Marissa added.

"She didn't say anything at all to us, just said that she had to leave after she got a phone call."

"Is she okay though? Everything's all right?"

"She's physically fine."

At that moment Seth felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket. It told him he had a voicemail, though he hadn't even realized that it had been ringing to begin with.

It was from Summer. The missed call and voicemail were from her.

This was the first time she had contacted him since everything had happened.

Something was definitely wrong.

Hands shaking a little, because this was starting to freak him out, he opened the phone and dialed his voicemail. What if something was wrong with Summer and they were just lying to him to make him not worry? If something happened to her and their baby, he would never forgive himself.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he put his password in the phone, bringing it up to his ear so that he could listen.

The message started out with what sounded like her crying at the beginning. This didn't sit well with him at all, but he continued to listen to the message.

"_Cohen, something happened and I need someone. Can you please come here? I really need someone…Cohen...I need you."_


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C.

A/N-I wasn't going to update this again for a while but I needed to procrastinate so I worked on this. Plus, I've noticed that there are next to no SS fics being put or updated on this site anymore so I thought that everyone could use a good SS update. Hopefully everyone will like this chapter, especially the end. Thanks for the reviews for the previous chapter!!

* * *

"…_Cohen…I need you."_

The words were echoing over and over again in his head as he sped to her apartment. He didn't care how many laws he was breaking at this point.

She needed him.

Those were the only words running through his head as he cut off yet another person, trying to remind himself that he was in his dad's car and he wouldn't appreciate if it was in pieces.

He was also pretty sure Summer wouldn't appreciate him getting in a car accident.

He finally arrived at the apartment after narrowly avoiding yet another car accident. He ran to the apartment, knocking furiously on the door. It was several minutes that he was pounding on the door and there was no answer. Frantically, he searched his pockets for his keys, realizing then that he had given the key back to Summer at her insistence.

"Summer? Sum, are you in there?" he called out.

Thousands of fears were running through his mind at this point. Everyone had said she was fine and that there was nothing wrong with the baby, but things can change so quickly. What if whatever happened had her so upset that something had happened?

If something had happened to her and their daughter, he was never going to be able to forgive himself.

"Seth?"

He turned around sharply, having to refrain from groaning when he saw who was calling his name. It was Mrs. Chapman, who lived two doors down from them. She was rather old, smelled of cat at all times, and absolutely adored Summer. She had since the first moment they moved in to the apartment. Seth she hadn't always been fond of, but he had apparently grown on her to the point that she would hold intense discussions about her cats with him.

He did not have time for that.

"Hi Mrs. Chapman. I can't really talk right now…"

"I know, dearie, I saw Summer come through here earlier, all in a tizzy." She eyed him. "I haven't seen you around here in a while."

"It…it's complicated."

She smiled at him. "Well, I know. I'm just glad that you're finally going back to her." She leaned closer to him. "I always liked you."

Seth smiled at the woman, pacifying her, for the moment. He pounded on the door again, calling out Summer's name. Where was she and why wasn't she answering the door?

"Do you need a key dearie?" Mrs. Chapman looked at him. "Summer gave me one once you moved out. Here, let me get it for you."

She rushed back into her apartment as fast as she could, appearing moments later with the key. Seth grabbed it from her, muttering a quick thank you before letting himself inside.

"Summer?"

"I'm in here!" She called back.

He went straight to her room where she was piling clothes on her bed. She was moving around the room frantically and he could tell that she had been crying. He wanted to reach out and hold her in his arms, but he wasn't sure that she would appreciate that.

"Way to not answer the door."

"I'm trying to get everything ready to go."

"Go where?"

"New York."

"What now?"

"That's why you're here."

To say he was confused was a bit of an understatement. He had gotten a crying voicemail and now she was telling him that she was going to New York? It wasn't really adding up to him at this point.

"Summer, can you backtrack and tell me what happened? Please?"

She turned to face him, her eyes already filling up with tears. "My dad…he was on his way to the airport. He was flying to see me, to make things right before the baby is born. And…he was in an accident on the way there."

"Summer..." he reached out to her but she pulled away immediately, once again reminding him that things were still awkward between the two.

"I need to go to him. The doctors have him stabilized at the moment but they're not really sure of his condition." She wiped at her eyes, trying to rid all of her tears.

"So what do you need me for?" Seth questioned, not really too sure where she was going with all of this.

"You're going to drive me."

"…drive you?"

"Yes."

"To New York City. All the way on the other side of the country. West Coast to East Coast."

"Yes."

"Here's a really important question: they invented airplanes for a really good reason, why not use one of those?"

Summer gave him a frustrated glare. "I'm 7 and a half months pregnant. They won't let me fly."

"And your solution is to drive all the way across the country?"

"I need to see him. I need to make everything right in case…in case he doesn't make it."

"Sum, he'll be fine. Does it really require me driving you?"

She glared at him. "It's your fault that everything is bad with him in the first place and it's your fault that I can't get on the damn plane. So, yes you're driving me."

"All right, all right, I'll drive you."

"All right. Are you ready to go?"

"Whoa, Summer. We can't just up and leave right away."

"Why not? We have to get there as soon as we can."

"First, I need to call my work to tell them that I have a family emergency and hope that I can take some time off. I'm assuming you took care of that?"

She looked at him warily. "No but I was going to."

"And what about Pancakes? We can't just leave without thinking of Pancakes."

She frowned. "You're right."

"And do you even know how to drive to New York from here?"

"No, it's never really been a necessity in my life."

"Okay, we're going to take care of all of that. I can get directions and everything that we'll need. I'll go back to Ryan's place and grab a suitcase and go and take some money out. Will you be okay if I leave you here for a little while?"

She sighed, leaning against the wall. He looked at her, concern in his eyes. She looked tired and drained.

"Are you really okay Sum?"

"He can't be dying," she whispered. "After everything that's happened, I need to know that he's okay." She looked at him. "He'll be okay right?"

"He's going to be fine. And we'll get you there so that you can see that he's going to be just fine." Seth looked over her again. "Are you you'll be okay if I leave you for a little while? Why don't you lie down or something?"

She glared at him, seeming to remember that she still hated him. "I'll be fine. I've been fine without you for the past few months so I'll be fine if you leave me for a little while."

"Okay then. I'll be back soon."

He walked out of the apartment, taking a large breath as soon as he stepped outside.

This was going to be an interesting road trip.

* * *

Seth lay back against the pillows on his comfortable bed. It felt good to be in his bed again and not just a couch. He hadn't slept in it in so long; he had started to miss it more than was natural.

Plus after all of the running around that he had done that day, he needed to relax.

He had to pack all of his stuff in a suitcase, which was quite the adventure. He had been doing that while explaining to Ryan and Taylor what he was doing while getting yelled at by Summer over the phone because he hadn't gotten back yet and she needed to know when they were leaving.

When he had arrived back at the apartment, it had been overflowing with baby things that Summer had gotten at the shower. That had taken some hard work and a lot of physical activity, which Seth was not cut out for. He was not a good person to try and lift things. It always ended in him on his back somehow, which was definitely the case for the day. At least him laying on the floor had caused Summer to crack a smile.

She still hated him though, which was evident in the comments that she would made regarding how much time she had spent alone because of him.

He was just hoping that she wasn't going to kill him in his sleep or something. Or, when they got to New York, she was going to shove him out of the moving car.

She may look petite but he knew that she was fully capable of doing that.

He was now taking the time to snuggle into his pillows that he hadn't been able to use in months. They smelled kind of like flowery shampoo, which was something that he couldn't understand but he wasn't complaining about. He liked the way it smelled. It was better than the pillows that he was using at Ryan's that smelled old to him.

It was a familiar scent, he just couldn't place it. It didn't really matter all that much, because really, he had to get up super early to go on this ridiculous road trip for Summer because she needed to see her dad.

Which he totally understood. Because he knew how much their relationship meant to her and how much it had been hurting her that it was strained. He tried to ignore all the comments that Summer had made that night that it was his fault that it was like but he knew it was true. Things would still be good if he hadn't gotten Summer pregnant.

So it was good that he was going to help her out with this. She needed to know that he was going to be there for her if she needed him. Maybe, just maybe, their relationship would start to mend and things could head back to being the way they were.

Either that or Summer pushed him out of a moving vehicle in the middle of New York City. He really hoped that it was the former though.

He pushed the thoughts from his mind as he closed his eyes, sighing happily at the thought of being able to sleep on something that wasn't lumpy or something that he didn't have to share with a dog. It was nice.

"Cohen?"

He opened his eyes, suddenly alert. For a moment, the thought that she might be coming to kill him like his crazy imagination had said crossed his mind, but then he realized that was a ridiculous idea.

Or at least he hoped that.

"Cohen?" she called again, taking a step into the room. He could tell by the tone of her voice that she was upset and he knew that she was thinking about her dad.

"I'm up."

She walked to his bed, climbing into it without a second thought. It shocked Seth for a minute that she was willing to be this near to him, but he didn't voice this out loud. It wasn't the time.

She crawled under the covers and leaned into him. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her, not giving it a second thought. She was Summer and he was still totally in love with her. He hadn't been there for her in the past months, failing to protect her and their daughter like he should have been.

He was going to make up for all of that. He hoped that she realized that.

"Summer, he's really going to be fine," he said as he held onto her.

"I just got a phone call."

He gulped, dread filling him. If something had happened before they got there then he was going to hate himself forever.

"It's a lot more serious than they thought. They said that they're going to try to do everything they can…"

Her tears muffled everything else that she was saying.

He just held her close to him. She needed to know that he was there for her.

"I'm going to get you there Summer. I promise."

"You better," she whispered.

He knew that she meant that. And he hoped that she knew that he meant what he said. He wasn't going to fail her again. He was going to make up for his mistakes.

He kissed the top of her head without thinking. She didn't say anything to him about it, so she was either ignoring it or she was preparing to hurt him for it.

He let his face linger near her hair. He realized something after a few seconds.

He had placed the familiar scent from his pillows. It was Summer's shampoo.

Why in the world would his pillows smell like her hair?

And that was when an idea came to him.

"Summer?"

"Hm?" The tears had stopped but she was still thinking about everything, he could tell.

"Have you been sleeping in my bed?"

She pulled away from him, trying to look shocked and insulted that he would even suggest something like that but her eyes gave it away. Even in the darkness, he could tell from the look in her eyes the truth.

"You have been sleeping in here!"

"No. No, I haven't. I've been sleeping in my bed. In my room."

"You've been sleeping in here." He couldn't help the smile that was spreading across his face.

"No, I haven't."

"Admit it you've been staying in here."

He could tell that she was getting frustrated by his actions. He wasn't going to let up until she admitted it.

"Admit it Summer."

"No."

"You've been sleeping in my bed. Why though?"

"Fine, I've been sleeping in here since you left because it was the closet I could get to you after you broke my heart!"

Immediately, she realized she had said too much. She pushed away from him, struggling to get away from him.

He, for once in his life, was quicker than someone else. He grabbed onto her arm, making her stop. He brought himself closer to her and before he could stop and think of what he was doing, he kissed her.

She didn't push him away like he was honestly expecting her to. Though that wasn't the most surprising thing that she did in that moment.

She kissed him back.

He wasn't sure what to do in the moment that she kissed him back. All he knew was that it showed that she was feeling pretty much the way that he felt. It was a perfect moment really. He had images flashing of them being able to fix their problems, of actually being a family together with their daughter.

Just as soon as it had started and the images played a perfect movie in his head, it ended.

She pulled away from him, a horror stricken look on her face. She sat on his bed shocked, her hand on his shoulder. She wasn't moving at all and it kind of panicked him.

"Summer?"

"This never happened."

"What?"

"This. It never happened. I never came in here and tomorrow when we wake up to go to New York, this didn't happen."

"But…"

"No, Cohen," she said sharply. "This never happened. I can't let this happen."

As fast as her body would let her move, she moved out of the room. She didn't even look back as she went back to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Seth groaned, leaning back against his pillows. There was no way he was going to be able to pretend that didn't happen. It had happened and he was going to remember it. There was no way he was going to be able to pretend, even though he knew Summer was going to be able to do just that.

Did she really want to pretend though? She had kissed him back. She could have hit him, told him to stop, done anything to make him stop. She didn't though. She had kissed him back.

Did that mean she wanted things to work with him? That didn't make sense to him though. Why would she have reacted like that then?

His head was swirling with questions but he wasn't getting any answers. He was tempted to get up and ask her what the hell was going on but he knew that he wasn't going to get anything out of her.

He shouldn't have kissed her. He wasn't regretting it though. He would never regret anything with her, this kiss definitely falling into that category.

And now he had to spend the next three days in a car with her. He was going to have to ignore the fact that they kissed. He was going to have to pretend that she still hated him and that things were as they had been for the past few months. He sighed.

Things just became a hell of a lot more complicated.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C.

A/N-I don't really have too much to say, just that this story is probably going to be ending soon, there's probably 5, maybe 6 chapters left. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter, and I really hope that everyone enjoys this chapter!!

* * *

Summer didn't sleep at all. She couldn't.

She and Seth had kissed.

Seth had kissed her.

She had kissed him back.

She had stayed up all night, thinking about how that had managed to happen. From the sounds of the squeaky mattress from Seth's room, she could tell that he was probably having the same thoughts as she was.

She wasn't going to lie; she had liked the way she it felt like she fit in his arms as he was comforting her. For a fleeting moment, she had pretended that they had been together, and that this was a normal thing for him to hold her in his arms.

She had really liked the feeling that thought had given her.

The alarm next to her sounded, pulling her back into reality. She was about to go on a three day car trip with him. Three days trapped in a small car where there was no escape, unless she wanted to jump out of the moving car. That wasn't really an option.

Though there was always the possibility that she could just throw him out of the car at some point.

Summer walked out of the room, coming face to face with Seth. The bags under his eyes signaled that he hadn't slept at all.

"I, uh…"

"I was just going to…" Summer started.

"Are you going to, um use the bathroom?" Seth questioned.

"Uh…yes. I'm just going to shower," Summer replied, sidestepping him to get to the bathroom.

She closed the bathroom door, leaning her head against it. This trip was not going to be fun at all.

* * *

"Could you drive any slower?"

"What? I'm going the speed limit."

"You mean below the speed limit."

"No, I am going the exact speed limit."

"Go faster."

"Do you want to get arrested?"

"Maybe then I can find someone who will drive faster."

He glared at Summer. This car trip had been hell so far and they'd only been on the road for six hours. He wasn't sure if he was going to last the whole trip to New York if it was going to be like this the whole time.

"When are we going to stop to eat something?" she questioned.

"Around 12. Remember, that's what we agreed on last night," he said.

"I'm hungry though."

"Here," he reached in the back, pulling out a bag that he had packed. "There should be something there."

She looked at everything that was in it, frowning. "There's nothing good in here."

Seth gripped the steering wheel tighter. She was deliberately trying to make him want to drive the car off the road.

The whole morning had been awkward. He hadn't said one word to her while they were at the apartment, still confused about the night before. He had watched her get angrier with each second that he hadn't said a word (something that took great willpower on his part) because he had no clue where they were at.

For the first two hours of the car ride, everything had been considerably normal—well, as normal as you could get with those two. Then Summer started complaining again and glaring at him, which was annoying to begin with.

And then, she touched the radio.

After an hour fight about what they were going to listen to—which Summer won, much to Seth's dismay—they had settled into the awkward silence again. Now, she was just critiquing his driving skills, which he thought he could handle. Apparently, he wasn't able to.

"Cohen."

"What?"

"I have to pee."

"We just stopped not even a half hour ago."

"Do you have a baby resting on your bladder?" There was that glare again.

"No."

"Then don't make remarks about how often I have to use the bathroom."

"This trip was such a bad idea," Seth groaned.

"No, it was a good idea, until I asked you to come along," Summer snapped.

"Well, fine. Let me just drop you off at the nearest gas station. You can call someone from there to come get you and drive you to freakin New York City!"

"Fine! That'll be better than you driving me."

"Great. Oh look. There's a gas station right there. You can use the bathroom and then I'm going home." He took a sharp turn into the parking lot, pulling into an empty space. He looked at her expectantly. "Well. Aren't you going to leave?"

"You're not serious!"

"Didn't you just say that you wanted to have someone else drive you?"

"I wasn't serious!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?"

"I figured you wouldn't take leaving me on the side of the road at a gas station seriously!"

"With us, I don't know how to interpret anything that happens anymore," he remarked.

"I thought we were going to pretend it didn't happen!"

Seth let out a frustrated sigh. "Sum, we can't just forget that we kissed! Not after all that we've gone through."

"It meant nothing," she said harshly.

"Oh that's a lie."

"No, it isn't."

"You wouldn't have kissed me back."

"I don't understand why you can't just let it drop!"

"We have feelings for each other! Why can't we just confront them?!"

"Because you broke my heart Cohen! Twice! You broke it yourself when you left to live with my best friend and then when you dated or didn't date her or whatever the hell you two were doing. And then with Jude, who was the only person who was there for me at the moment."

"Everything with Jude would have come out eventually."

"Everything was fine."

"No it wasn't. And okay, I'll admit that mine and Marissa's plan was never rational, but…why does that even matter anymore? Why can't we just leave it all behind us? It's the past. I'm not going to screw up again."

"I just…I need to go to the bathroom." She climbed out of the car before turning back around to look at him. "Don't leave."

He leaned his head against the steering wheel when she walked away. This was getting to be too much for him.

He knew what he had to do. He didn't like it, but he was going to have to do it. After this trip, if she decided that she didn't want him anymore, then he was going to leave. For good.

* * *

She was so glad that he had listened to her. She wasn't sure what she would have done if he hadn't waited for her. Probably call him, force him to come back, and then kill him upon his arrival.

His head was resting on the steering wheel. She cautiously got back in the car, the plastic bag filled with chocolate and pretzels rustling as she did so. He looked at her, staring for only a moment before turning the car back on.

He didn't say a word. She didn't say anything and she wasn't going to. Not until she decided what she wanted to say.

Leaning her head back against the head rest, she closed her eyes. Pretending to be asleep was easier than having to sit and listen to the silence and then he wouldn't notice her red eyes from crying in the bathroom. It was a lot less heartbreaking too.

* * *

Seth was almost positive that he should have gotten a medal of some sort. He didn't say a word for nearly ten hours. Ten whole hours without saying anything at all.

He opened his mouth to wake up Summer, who had been sleeping for nearly all of the ten hours, but before he could he sat up and was out of the car.

Smirking a little, he realized that she hadn't been sleeping at all. Well, at least her way of avoiding conversation was more crafty then his.

She had already checked in when he grabbed their bags and brought them inside. She just silently handed him a room card, walking to the elevator, not even bothering to wait for him.

The man standing behind the counter shook his head, laughing at Seth. "What did you do to piss her off?"

"A lot," Seth mumbled, running his hands through his hair. The car was looking more and more welcoming with each passing moment.

"Groveling is your best bet."

"Yea." Seth nodded his head slowly, pressing the button for the elevator. He got on before he could get anymore advice from the man.

Getting out, he walked to the room, opening the door up. He placed the bags on the floor, sitting down on one of the beds. He could hear the water running in the bathroom, so he knew that Summer was in there.

He climbed up farther on the bed, knowing that he should try to fall asleep, due to the horrible hour that he had to wake up at. He closed his eyes, waiting to hear her come out of the bathroom.

When he heard the bathroom door creak open, he opened his eyes to watch her walk to the other bed. He noted the way her eyes were red and instantly felt even worse than he already did if that was even possible. He hated that all of this was making her cry.

She turned off the light and the two both lay there in the darkness, neither saying a word though they both knew that the other was awake. Seth stared at the ceiling, trying to decide if he should say anything to her.

Then he heard her crying. He looked over at the other bed; her back was turned to him. He could still hear her crying though. Making a split second decision, he slowly got off his bed, walking the few steps over to hers.

He laid down next to her and apprehensively moved closer to her. She knew that he was on the bed, but made no move to say anything to him.

He grabbed her hand, hoping that she wouldn't let go. When she didn't she knew that it was all right to start talking.

"Summer," he said softly. "I'm sorry that we keep fighting about this."

She didn't say anything, making him decide that he should just keep continuing on with what he wanted to say, though he wasn't entirely certain of where he was going with this.

"I don't want to keep fighting Summer. At all. At this point, if we keep doing this, I…can't do it anymore," he told her honestly.

"What?" She turned her neck to look at him, dropping his hand.

"I want to be with you. I want to work on us being a family with our baby. But we have to get past what happened, the stupid mistakes that I made."

She was silent for a few moments, thinking about what he was saying.

"I…I thought you hated me," she replied honestly. "I thought that's why you moved out, why you started 'dating' Marissa."

"I could never hate you."

"I thought you did." There were more tears in her eyes. "I mean, I'm pregnant with your baby. You went to live with my best friend. How could I not think that?"

"I'm an ass. I know this. I thought that you wanted to be with Jude."

"No."

He sighed, as she shifted in the bed, fully facing him. He moved a stray piece of hair out of her eyes. "We need to figure out what we are Summer. We can't go on with whatever we are at this point."

"What were we even in the beginning?" she questioned. "We were both looking for one night to just escape from our problems. Instead we created even more."

"I don't want to go back to that."

"Well, obviously, you're stuck with me somehow. I'm having your baby," she smiled slightly at him.

"We have to decide."

She sighed, knowing that he was right. They couldn't go on forever without talking about it and not knowing where they stood.

"I love you Summer," he said, catching her by surprise.

"You what?"

"I love you. I don't care if that's not how you feel. We're already having a kid. I know that I could be in a relationship with you. I want it more than anything I've wanted in a long time."

She nodded her head, thinking about the words he was saying. She was afraid to admit that she wanted the same things.

"Cohen, I…I want the same things you want. But can we really just forget what happened?"

"We're not going to forget. You're going to bring it up every time we fight about something and I'm going to try to defend it even though there's no way I can legitimately defend my stupidity. Therefore, we won't ever forget. And we'll use it as examples for what we shouldn't do in the future."

"Okay…"

"Trust me, Sum, I'm going to make up for what I did."

"Are you sure?"

"Swear on Captain Oats and Pancakes lives."

"Can we take it slowly?" she asked after a few minutes of thinking about it. "I don't want to rush into anything. It's about more than just us at this point." She grabbed his hand, placing it on her stomach. "It's about her too."

He nodded his head. "All right. We'll take it slow. As slow as you want it to go. Should I go back to the other bed?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, stay right here."

"Does this also mean I can remember that we kissed yesterday?"

"Yes. In fact…" she brought her lips to his.

"I like this new relationship of ours."

"Me too."

He kissed her once more, then pulled away. "We should sleep."

She nodded her head, ready to go to sleep after the long day that they had. She closed her eyes and was soon breathing softly.

Seth didn't fall right asleep, instead watching her for a few minutes. He hadn't been this happy in a while. He had never thought they were going to work out their problems, but he was so glad that they had been able to.

Finally, something involving the one person that he truly cared about had gone right.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C.

A/N-This is really just a bit of a filler chapter. Next chapter will have more Seth and Summer stuff in it probably and I'm going to try and not take too long to get that next chapter up. Thanks for the reviews.

* * *

Summer had been having such a peaceful sleep. She was in such a nice little dreamland, she didn't want to wake up.

Of course this would be interrupted by a phone call.

Well, really it was Seth who woke her up by shoving her cell phone at her.

"Here. Pick it up. Make it stop singing that song," he told her burying his head in a pillow.

"Hello?" Summer said, blinking a few times, ignoring the groans from Seth next to her.

"Summer? Ohmygosh! We thought you were dead."

Of course it was Abbey and Reagan. They were the only two who she had neglected to notify that she had traveled across the country and who would call her the one morning that they actually were able to sleep and not drive.

"No, I'm not dead."

"Is Abbey Reagan okay?" Abbey questioned.

"Yep."

"She means Reagan Abbey and are you okay?" Reagan added.

"I'm okay now yea."

"Well, then, where the hell are you? We haven't heard from you since your baby shower!"

"I'm in New York."

"New York?!" she had to hold the phone away from her ear they both were squealing so loudly.

"Who are you in New York with?!" Reagan added.

"Seth?"she replied, unsure if she should have answered their question.

"WITH SETH?!" Again, she had to pull the phone quickly away from her ear to prevent her from going deaf in that particular ear.

"Will you tell them to shut the hell up?" Seth groaned, unable to block out the noise coming from her phone.

"If only it was that easy," she hissed.

"What are you doing with Seth?"

"I thought that you hated him!" Abbey added. "Or…did our plan work? Ohmygosh Reagan, our plan worked!"

"I so knew our plan would work!"

"Don't give yourselves so much credit," Summer replied, rolling her eyes despite the fact that they couldn't see her. "We talked it out—"

"More like fought it out," Seth muttered, finally realizing he wasn't going to get to sleep anymore and got out of bed.

"And we're taking it slow."

"Ohmygod, they're taking it slow!"

"I heard Abbey. Let her talk."

"Yea, you still haven't told us why you're in New York. Is it just so you and Seth could 'fight it out' and realize you two were made for each other? That really required going all the way across the country?"

"My dad had an accident."

"Sum, I'm so sorry."

"Yea, we're going to see him today. Actually, we're going to leave to see him in about a half hour, so I really should get going."

"Of course. I hope everything's okay. We'll wait until you and Seth get back to hear all of the juicy details of what happened."

Summer quickly hung up the phone, turning it off. She didn't really feel like talking to anyone else for the rest of the day. That brief conversation with Abbey and Reagan had been more than enough, really.

Seth walked out of the bathroom, yawning loudly. "Did you tell them thanks for interrupting my sleep?"

"No, but next time I talk to them, I will be sure to mention how upset you were that they called at 10 o'clock in the morning."

"It's not my fault that we didn't get to sleep until 2 and I've been driving for the past 3 days."

"If you drove faster than an old lady, we would probably have gotten here faster."

"Hey, I like the speed that I drive at. I have precious cargo in the car with me."

"So now I'm just cargo?"

He forgot how hard it was to try and be funny around her. She had been especially on edge since the previous night when they had arrived in New York. He knew it was the fact that she was going to see her father now, after everything that had gone on between them in the past few months. He knew that she was especially worried about how her father was doing, even though they had gotten a call yesterday that he was doing very well.

"You're way more than cargo."

"Then don't refer to me as cargo," she grumbled.

"I'm sorry Sum."

Apologies had been frequent in the past few days. Not that he really minded; he was still happy that they were together that he would apologize to her a million times no matter what it was.

She just waved her hand, grumbling about being considered nothing more than cargo. He shook his head, kissing her gently to let her know that she was way more than cargo to him.

"I'm going to shower really quickly. You okay for a few minutes?"

"Of course I am Cohen. I'm capable of sitting alone while you're in the bathroom two feet away from me."

"Just want to make sure that my precious cargo is safe," he remarked. He really needed to learn how to keep his comments to himself, he realized as he heard her give a frustrated sigh. He didn't want to kill the relationship before it had even had the chance to get started.

Though, of course, he had a good feeling about their relationship. He knew that they were going to make it work no matter what they had to go through to do so.

He quickly took a shower, thinking about where they could possibly go to eat breakfast before going to see her dad. Or rather, if Summer would know a place they could eat before. He had no knowledge whatsoever of the area that they were in.

He walked out of the bathroom, excepting to hear a remark from Summer about his last cargo remark. Instead, he saw her sitting on the end of the bed, crying. He rushed over to her immediately, his heart beating faster, thinking that she had just received a call about her father.

"Sum, what's wrong?" he questioned, sitting down on the bed next to her.

"It's…he…and she…it's just so sad!"

He looked at her blankly, trying to figure out what was going on. Then he looked at the screen, which displayed some famous couple announcing they were breaking up. He shook his head.

"You shouldn't be watching that."

She glared at him. "You left me alone!"

"I had to shower."

"I was alone!"

"It was ten minutes."

"I was bored." She slowly stood up, waving away Seth when he tried to help her. "I'm pregnant, not incapable of getting up. I'm going to shower."

He smiled as he watched her walk away, slamming the bathroom door.

He had missed her so much.

* * *

"Do you want me to go in there with you?" Seth questioned as they stood outside of her father's hospital room.

"No, I think this is something I need to do alone," she replied.

"I'll be right out here if you need me," Seth said, taking a seat on one of the chairs.

"Okay." She took a deep breath before opening up the door to the room.

She looked in the room to see her father sitting up, watching some sort of soap opera on TV. He was shaking his head and muttering to himself as he was watching it.

"Dad?"

He looked away from the TV, a smile on his face. "Summer! I didn't know that you were coming here."

She walked as quickly as she could over to him, hugging him tightly. "I had to make sure you were okay."

"You aren't supposed to fly."

"I didn't fly."

"You drove yourself all the way from California just to see me?"

"No, Seth drove me all the way from California to make sure that you were okay."

"Last time I heard you and Seth weren't talking at all."

She narrowed her eyes. "What did you hear that from your spy, Jude?"

"I'm sorry, Summer. That…that was very horrible of me to do to you."

"Yea, it was."

"I wanted what's best for my daughter though. You deserve the best."

"I've worked it all out. Well. Most of it. Seth and I are working on everything," she remarked.

"Is he treating you right?"

"He drove me all the way here. Does that qualify as treating me right?"

"I suppose. Is he going to marry you?"

"Um…we haven't really talked about that far in advance," Summer replied, rolling her eyes. She wasn't really certain what was ever going to happen with her and Seth, but she knew that one day it would probably happen.

Her father looked up at her, a small gleam in his eyes. "I'm proud of what you've done with your life. Even though I made some mistakes in the past few months with you, I want you to know that I am sorry."

"I know."

She hugged her father again tightly. She was just glad that he was all right. She wasn't sure how close they would be anymore because their relationship was definitely different now, but at least they would have some sort of relationship. It was good to know that slowly, the relationships that were severed before were fixing themselves.

* * *

A few hours later, Seth and Summer finally got back to their hotel room. They had stayed for a while visiting with Summer's dad, catching up on what had been going on in each other's lives.

Seth grabbed Summer's arm before fully going into the room, kissing her quickly. She pulled away from him, a bright smile on her face.

"What was that for?"

"Just because I felt like it," he replied.

She remembered the words that she had said to him months ago, when this whole thing had first started. They had come so far from that, gone through a lot together and apart. Now, they were going to have a baby together in only six weeks.

She kissed him back, catching him by surprise. He looked at her with a large grin on his face this time.

"What was that for?"

"Just because I can now." She walked into the room, looking around at their suitcases opened up on the floor. "I think we should go home now."

"Right now? As in leave this minute?"

"Yes. I want to get back to the apartment. You know, find all of your things that I'd thrown in a box."

"You had a Seth box?"

"A Cohen box actually and it was more or less the crap that you left laying around that annoyed me. Because we weren't dating before, so it didn't count as an ex-boyfriend box."

"What was it considered then?"

"A 'he really pisses me off box'," Summer replied.

"Of course."

She shut both of their suitcases, pointing at them to make him pick them up. "Good. We're all packed."

"You don't even want to look around the city at all? See some old friends?"

"No. I want to go back home. To our home."

Seth gave her a goofy grin, before picking up one of the suitcases. "Okay. I like that plan. We're going back to our home."


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C.

A/N-I just wanted to say thanks to those who took the time to review the last chapter, I really appreciate it. Sorry that this chapter took so long to get out!

* * *

Summer yawned, resting her head on Seth's shoulder. He kissed the top of her head. "I think we better go to sleep."

"No! We're discussing baby names! This is important!"

"We should get to bed."

"But what if she's born and we don't have a name for her!?" Summer exclaimed.

"I thought we decided that we weren't going to name her until she was born?"

"Right, but we don't even have any names in mind."

"We have a few."

"I hate them all."

Seth rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Summer. We'll find a name for her. If not, we can just name her Baby. I've always wanted to be able to use the expression 'No one puts Baby in a corner!'"

"Shut up, Cohen!" Summer sat up, hitting his arm before crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ow, woman, that hurt!"

"Well, you deserved it. We're not going to name her Baby," Summer replied.

"We'll think of something. I think that you should go to sleep. You seem cranky."

Ah, the glare that he had grown so accustomed to since moving back in with her was the response he got. The glare and the occasional muttered I hate yous for doing this to me (followed closely by I love yous) were becoming a favorite in the Cohen-Roberts household.

"No, no, you're as perky as a peach."

"I'm going to bed." Summer struggled to get off the couch, Seth watching her and trying not to laugh.

"Want me to give you a push off?"

The glare was back. He really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut.

"No, I'm fine except for the fact that I have an inconsiderate boyfriend. Good night."

Seth watched her walk (waddle really, but Summer would kill him if he ever told her that) to their bedroom. Well. It would be more accurate to say the room that was once his, shared by him and Summer for about a week before she decided that she couldn't sleep with him in the bed. So, technically, it was her room now.

He thought for a minute about leaving her be as there was a really awesome movie coming on, but then he realized that she would probably murder him in his sleep if he didn't go apologize. And unfortunately, he believed that Summer was fully capable of that, so he liked to cover all grounds, just in case.

He knocked gently on the door, pushing it open before receiving a response. Summer was lying on the bed, her eyes closed, pretending to be asleep.

"Sum, you do realize that I know you're awake still right?"

"Shut up, Cohen."

"I'm sorry for being an inconsiderate boyfriend and I'm sorry for suggesting that we name our daughter Baby." He paused. "Also, I'm sorry for whatever I'm bound to say in a minute or so that will get me in trouble. I figure I should make some pre-apologies."

She sighed. "I'm sorry I'm acting like this. It's not my fault."

"Oh, I know. You explained it all to me, when I complained that one time when we first moved in. And then you showed me pictures of childbirth. I appreciate that you scarred me. That was when I knew that we were going to make a great couple."

"That all seems so long ago," Summer stated, moving over in the bed so Seth could sit next to her.

"A lot has happened since that night. Not that I remember that particular night but everything I remember after that particular night has been…interesting, to say the least."

"Do you ever have any regrets?" she questioned.

Seth shrugged. He didn't know what to say to her about this. "I don't know."

"You have regrets?!" she exclaimed, shooting him another glare. "You probably wished your girlfriend wasn't so fat and ugly, right? Why don't you just break up with me then!"

He always knew that he pre-apologized for a reason. He turned to look at her, but she had turned her face away from him. He heard her sniffling and he sighed.

"Sum, I'm sorry. I don't think that you're fat and ugly. I think that you're beautiful."

"You're just saying that so I'll stop crying."

"No, I really do think that you're beautiful," he said.

"Then why do you have regrets about this all?" she questioned, her voice small.

"I don't have regrets. I said I don't know if I do or not."

She sniffled again, turning to face him only to roll her eyes. "That's like saying you regret this all!"

"Will you let me finish woman? I don't regret the baby or being with you, in fact, I love those parts of my life. It's the fact that I let everything get so screwed up. I regret not being with you every second of the way, when I should have been."

"Oh."

"But I figure that I can just be there for the next one," Seth replied, grin on his face.

Summer brought her arm up, hitting him on the arm. "There will be no next one. This one will be plenty."

"Aw, really? I think it would be unfair to only have one. I mean, she's going to be lonely if she doesn't have a sibling."

"I was an only child and I turned out just fine."

Seth laughed and Summer whacked him on the arm again. He stopped laughing, rubbing his arm instead.

"Okay, okay, I won't say anything about that again."

"Good."

Summer yawned again, snuggling her face into the pillow. Seth leaned forward and kissed her cheek, getting up from the bed. She pulled her face away from the pillow.

"Where are you going?"

"To my bed."

She gave him a blank stare. "You know, the bed that's actually yours but you make me sleep there because it's more comfortable than my own and you don't like sharing a bed with me."

She rolled her eyes. "Stay in here."

"But you complain that I take up far too much space in the bed and that you can't get comfortable and—"

"Cohen, just shut up and get in the bed."

"My, my, aren't we forward tonight?"

She rolled her eyes but was smiling as he climbed back next to her. He kissed her cheek once again before curling up, the two quickly falling asleep.

* * *

"Hey, Cohen?" Summer stood in the doorway to the bedroom, tapping her fingers on the doorframe.

"What, Sum?"

"Um, I think I'm in labor."

She heard a large thud from the other room and immediately started to walk (or waddle, because really that's what she was doing) to him. She found him on the floor, staring up at her.

"What did you just do?"

"I'm sorry, did you just say you're in labor?"

She winced as pain shot through her body. "Yes, I'm in labor."

"See, when you said that hysterical joke, I was leaning back on my chair, and I just fell off it in surprise."

"It wasn't a joke."

"It can't possibly be real."

"Well, Seth, I'm pretty sure this baby is ready to greet the world."

"But…but…." He looked at her apprehensively. "You're not due for another two weeks."

"Apparently, the baby will be taking after you with her impatience."

"We don't even have a name picked out!" With that, Seth picked himself off the floor and started rushing around. Summer watched in amusement (and pain) as he ran around, muttering to himself.

"Seth?"

"I need to get your bag. And I need to find the baby name book because we need to pick out a name!"

"Seth."

"We can't have a daughter and not know what to name her. It just won't work. I don't want to call her Baby for the rest of her life!"

"Seth!"

He turned to look at her. "What?"

"Calm down."

"How can I possibly be calm right now?" He looked at her as she just stood in the doorway. "How can you possibly be calm right now?!"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I think you've got the freaking out thing covered for the both of us though."

"Summer…you're going to have a baby."

"Yes, I realize this."

"Our baby."

She nodded, smiling widely. He looked at her, his face changing quickly. "You're going to be having our baby."

He stopped whatever he was trying to do and smiled, walking over to her, kissing her. She looked at him, the smile still on her face.

"We're having a baby."

* * *

"Cohen, I'm going to kill you!"

Seth bit his lip as Summer squeezed his hand again. She had been doing that for…he had lost count of how many hours it had been since they had gotten to the hospital. Eight hours? Had it been more? He wasn't even sure anymore.

"I know, I know," he muttered as she released his hand.

"No, I'm serious."

"I know you are."

"Cohen," she groaned, "why did you get me into this mess?"

"Hey. You so can't lay this one all on me. I seem to remember—well, not really, because I can't remember anything about that night—that it was both of us in that bed doing what got you in this position."

"It wasn't a conscious decision!"

"Well, you wanted to stick it out. And you've made it this far and you're doing great." He leaned forward to kiss her but she pushed him away, grabbing his hand again.

"You have absolutely no idea how much this hurts," he muttered.

Summer glared at him and squeezed his hand even harder. "Really? Did you really just say that?"

The death glare, something that always signaled she was bound to hurt him sometime soon. He untangled his hand from hers and backed away slowly.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom."

"Why are you leaving me?"

"I have to pee."

"Can't you hold it?!"

"For how many more hours? That baby may not be coming out anytime soon and I don't think I can hold my pee for that long."

She glared at him. He backed away from her. "Send Marissa in."

"I swear I won't be long," Seth replied before darting out of the room, nearly plowing over Marissa. "Oh, I'm so glad that you're here."

"How is she?" Marissa asked.

"She's fine. Everything, except for my hand, is fine. Go be with her for a little while?" Marissa nodded as Seth walked out of the room towards the waiting area. He saw his family sitting there and they looked at him anxiously as he flopped down on the chair next to Ryan.

"So how's everything?" Kirsten questioned.

"It's going," Seth replied, closing his eyes.

This was all too surreal for him. He couldn't believe that they were in the hospital, the baby finally really on the way. He wasn't sure what to do with himself at this point. He was ready to jump for joy at the fact that he was going to become a father but at the same time, he was definitely scared shitless.

"We're proud of you and Summer, Seth," Sandy remarked.

"Thanks, Dad," he muttered, looking at his hands.

Ryan patted his back. "Don't worry; you're going to make a great father."

"Yea, I guess."

"You are Seth. You've taken great care of Summer," Kirsten told him.

"Yea, after I screwed it up."

"She forgave you. That's all gone now. Go back and be supportive of your girlfriend."

* * *

"She's so beautiful," Summer muttered in awe as she stared at their daughter.

Rylan Abigail Cohen was three hours old and her parents had already decided that she was the cutest baby in the hospital. Seth had scoped out all the other babies and decided that Rylan won, hands down.

"She definitely is," Seth agreed. "Now, I already saw one of the boys in there and I swear he was hitting on her. We're going to have to watch her starting now, because obviously our baby girl is already attracting boys."

"Well, she is my daughter," Summer smiled. "I don't think it would happen any other way."

They sat and stared at Rylan, unable to take their eyes off of her. Seth was still in shock that she was his daughter, that he had lucked out this much in his life. Summer was the best thing that had ever happened to him, without a doubt. He wondered where he would be without her in his life and he decided that he didn't want it any other way.

"Sum?"

"Yea?" She finally tore her attention from Rylan to look at Seth.

"I never got to ask you the other night. Do you have any regrets?"

She shook her head slowly. "No. I've never had any regrets. I don't think I ever will."

He kissed her quickly, then placed a kiss on Rylan's forehead. "I love you both. More than anything." He paused, thinking for a minute. "And I definitely will never regret you. Never."


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I don't own The O.C.

A/N-Sorry this took forever and a day to post. This is actually the last chapter chapter, but there will be an epilogue posted sometime in the near future, so look out for that. Thanks to everyone who took the time to review, I really appreciate it!!

* * *

"Make her stop crying," Summer groaned, handing Rylan to Seth. The baby barely even paused in her tears, continuing to scream very loudly.

"Maybe if I was a magician," Seth muttered. He rocked the baby in his arms but that seemed to just upset her more. He wished he had taken his mother's advice months ago and talked to her a little more about taking care of kids. He realized that he knew absolutely nothing. In the two weeks since Rylan was born, he had learned nothing more than the fact that babies cry a lot. And they're not quiet.

"Please, be a magician." Summer lowered herself in the bed, closing her eyes for what felt like the first time in two weeks. She was starting to forget what it was like.

"I've been trying," Seth commented grumpily. He hadn't slept in more than 48 hours. At least Summer wasn't going to work. He had been staying up all night with her and Rylan, because Summer didn't think that it was fair for him to be able to sleep while she was up. He thought it was pretty damn fair, considering he was making them money, but Summer wouldn't see it any other way besides her own.

And there was no use arguing it with her. Everything was her way and only her way. He loved her for it, he did, he just wished that she could see his opinion for once.

"Please, please, please be a magician," she muttered, her eyes still closed. She peeked one eye open after a minute, looking at Seth. He was standing in the middle of the room, swaying Rylan in his arms. Her cries were slowly subsiding. A smile spread across Summer's face as she watched Seth take care of their daughter. She felt tears coming to her eyes at the sight. She sniffled, wiping at her eyes, trying to hide it.

Seth turned his head, looking back at her with an amused smile on his face. "Summer, are you crying again?"

"No." She shook her head even though she knew it was no use. He was already hiding a laugh at her. "Stop it, Cohen!"

"I'm not laughing at you, I'm not. I swear," he replied with a snicker.

She sat up, crossing her arms over her chest, muttering under her breath. "Cohen, watch your back in your sleep. You might be my daughter's father but that doesn't make any difference to me. Sleep with one eye open."

Seth looked at her once again, the smile falling from his face. He would never admit to anyone that Summer kind of—no, definitely—scared him. He let out a nervous giggle and took a step away from Summer, just for good measure. She glared before her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.

"What? What is it?" Seth questioned, about to take a step towards her but she held out her hands, motioning them wildly for him to stop. He gave her an incredulous look, trying to figure out if she had finally officially gone off her rocker.

"You are a magician," Summer muttered.

Seth looked around, confused, until his eyes fell to Rylan, fast asleep. His own eyes widened and then he felt his heart swell with pride. In the two weeks that they had been home with Rylan, she had never stopped crying for him. Summer was the one who, so far, had been the best with her. Even though it had only been a few weeks, he was already wondering if he was failing. In a moment of weakness—or tiredness, depending on which one you asked—he had admitted all of his fears to Summer the previous night. That explained the look she was giving him now—the teary eyed, about to sob look.

He took a step towards the bed again, wanting to sit down next to Summer to have a nice family moment but stopped at her crazy arm waving again. "What is it??"

"If you move, she might wake up," Summer said, her voice just barely a whisper now that Rylan was asleep. "And we don't want that."

"So you want me to stand here all night?"

"If you can, yes."

Seth rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous, Sum. I'm really, standing here all night. She'll be fine if I put her in her bassinet." Just to show her, he marched over to the other side of the room—which was really only two or three steps, considering the amount of stuff they had in the room. He carefully placed his daughter in the bassinet before turning around to face Summer triumphantly. "See? She's perfectly fine. Let's go to sleep."

As soon as he took a step away, a loud cry was heard from the bassinet and he cringed. Summer sent him a dirty look as Rylan's cries picked up again, louder than they had been before. Summer brushed past him, shaking her head.

"Next time, you're standing all night."

* * *

Summer sighed as she tripped over some unidentifiable object as there were several loud knocks on the door. She tripped once more before actually reaching the door where the knocking had grown even more insistent than before.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," she muttered as she pulled the door open.

"Summer!"

She was caught by surprise as there were suddenly two people launched into her arms. It took her a minute to realize that it was Abbey and Reagan. They were practically squealing with excitement, which wasn't really anything new with the two of them.

"Hi, guys." Summer patted them on the back awkwardly as they pulled away from them. Through their big hair, she could see Marissa standing there, Taylor standing just behind her. They both grinned at Summer who glared in response.

"Ohmygod Summer!" Abbey's voice reached a shrill volume that a human voice should never reach. She fluffed her newly died dark brown hair and smiled. "You're missing so much at the office! Like my hair! Do you not love it?!"

"I love it." She nodded as she allowed Marissa and Taylor into the apartment, closing the door behind them. They gave her a quick hug before following her into the living room, where Summer collapsed on the couch, all following suit.

"But really, you've had better things to do," Reagan interjected. She glanced at Abbey, leaning closer to Summer. "I still don't think that color looks that good on her. She should have gone with a lighter color in my opinion."

"Ugh, Reagan, shut up! I can hear you!"

"Wow, this is just such a…nice surprise, having you two come over here," Summer said, glancing at Marissa, who just shrugged her shoulders. She looked at Taylor, who imitated the motion.

"I know, it was a surprise for us too!" Abbey exclaimed.

"We were just walking down the street, doing some shopping when we ran into these two here," Reagan gestured to Marissa and Taylor, "and we got to talking. I asked how you were doing and then Marissa mentioned something about coming to see you so…."

"We basically invited ourselves along!" Abbey finished with an excited nod. "We've just missed you so much and wanted to see you."

"Well, gee, thanks Marissa for bringing these two over. I love visits from Abbey and Reagan," Summer stated through clenched teeth.

Marissa cleared her throat. "Uh, I'm gonna go get something to drink. From the Starbucks. Down the street. Or maybe two streets over. Taylor why don't you come with me?"

Taylor immediately stood up, fearing the wrath of Summer. "Yea, I think that sounds great. I love Starbucks. Anyone want anything?"

"Definitely a Vanilla Bean Frappiccuno," Reagan stated. "Love those!"

"Reagan, you don't need one of those," Abbey said, shaking her head. "Think of all the calories."

"We're celebrating the birth of Summer's baby! I think I can splurge!"

"Oh. That's right. Well, then I'll have one of those too."

Marissa and Taylor smiled at Summer before hightailing it out of the apartment. Summer glared at their retreating forms. They just had to leave her with these two. Even though they had been friends in the past months, it didn't make them any less annoying. And on so little sleep, it multiplied the obnoxious factor by about ten.

"So, Summer, how has the first few weeks of motherhood been?" Reagan said, moving closer to her on the couch. "Where is the beautiful bouncing girl? Who, when I received news of the baby, I realized that you did not name the baby Reagan Abbey. I was very, very disappointed."

"I was even more disappointed that you didn't name her Abbey Reagan," Abbey cut in. "I mean…it just flows so well."

Summer gave them a tight smile. "Well, I did name her Rylan Abigail." Abbey's eyes widened in excitement, but Summer decided to ignore that for the time being. "And motherhood has been wonderful so far. Tiring but wonderful."

"Wait, wait." Abbey held up her hand. "You named her Rylan Abigail. My name is totally short for Abigail!!! You named her after me!"

"Abbey, your name is not short for Abigail. Your parents named you Abbey."

Abbey flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Well, it could be short for Abigail."

"She did name her Rylan which is almost really close to Reagan."

"I assure you that both of those things were just pure coincidence. I didn't even realize that when we named her," Summer said. Both of their faces fell. "But, maybe in the back of my mind, I was thinking of you two." They smiled again and even Summer had to smile at their reactions.

"So, how has Seth been? You two officially done with all of your problems?" Reagan asked with curiosity.

Summer leaned back against the couch, thinking about this. Seth had been…well, Seth had been wonderful. He had been working every day after staying up all night because she just couldn't let him sleep while she was up with their daughter. He totally accepted everything that she made him do, even when she had banished him to the couch the other night after he refused once again to stand all night, holding Rylan. He had just greeted her with a kiss and a hug in the morning, causing her heart to melt.

She was starting to wonder how she had gotten so lucky. Sure, he had managed to put her through a lot, but in the end, it was all worth it. They were together and she was lucky that she hadn't lost him. She was almost certain that she had him forever and that was the happiest thought that she could have.

"Summer?" Reagan prodded, pulling Summer out of her thoughts.

"Oh, Cohen. We haven't had any problems. We're doing great actually." Summer flashed them a large smile, just in case they didn't believe her. They had a tendency to ask annoying follow up questions about everything.

She was, thankfully, saved by the door to the apartment opening. For a moment she thought that it was Marissa and Taylor returning until she heard someone stumble and a small cry as they fell. She rolled her eyes as she got off the couch.

"What was that?" Abbey asked Reagan, clutching her in a panic.

"Was it a murderer?"

"Or a burgler?"

"We should get out while we still can!"

Summer rolled her eyes. "It's just Cohen."

The two looked at her, obviously confused. "Does he usually stumble into the house like that?"

"Yes." Summer nodded as she headed towards the door. Seth was lying on the ground, his arms gathered under his head, resting on them. She prodded him with her foot, causing him to look up at her. "Cohen, get up."

"Ugh," he groaned, turning his face back into his arms.

"Are you ever going to remember that you left that…umbrella stand…where did we get an umbrella stand?" Summer questioned, shaking her head as she held out her hand to help Seth up. "But really, you need to remember that the umbrella stand is there."

"I believe my great aunt Tracy sent it to us upon hearing about the birth of Rylan. There was something about keeping our umbrellas away from her. It was ridiculous and didn't make any sense," Seth said as he stood up. Every day, without fail, he tripped over the umbrella stand. He thought that he would have eventually remembered that it was there, but he always seemed to forget about it. He caught the look that Summer was giving him and he grinned. "Did I mention great Aunt Tracy was a little nutso?"

"Apparently." She looked behind her and then leaned forward. "We have company. Our goal is to get rid of them as soon as possible."

"Who are they?" Seth questioned, confused. Most of the time, Summer liked company.

"Ohmygod Seth!! Congratulations!"

Upon hearing the shrill voice, he immediately knew that they had to go. He looked at Summer, who just shrugged her shoulders. He looked at the two girls, who were smiling at him and looked as if though they were ready to hug him.

"Thanks, Abbey, Reagan."

"We were just discussing how we would love to baby sit Rylan sometime!" Abbey exclaimed. "She is just the cutest baby in the world!"

"We may have just snuck in there to see her," Reagan said, a gleam in her eye. "Really, you two, you certainly know how to make one cute baby. You should have drunken sex with random guys more often, Sum. As long as they're good looking of course."

"Um, wow, it was great to see you two! Now, oh do you hear that?" Seth leaned forward, cupping his ear. "I think I hear Rylan crying. Oh, my."

Reagan and Abbey looked at him as if though he was crazy. "I don't hear anything."

"It's a parent thing. Sometimes only we can hear her cry," Seth said, lowering his voice as if it was some huge secret that no one else could know about. "And really…I think you should leave. It's not pretty when she cries. Unless, of course, you want to change her diaper? After all, if you want to baby sit her, might as well practice that one now. Yea, why don't you two go get her and change her diaper? I think that would be excellent."

Both of their eyes widened and Summer had to hide her smile. "Uh, actually, I just remembered. Reagan, don't we have that…that…uh…."

"That thing. Yea, yea, we should go and get ready for that. Summer, Seth, it was lovely seeing you. We wish you the best with your baby! Bye!"

They were out of the apartment quicker than the two could blink. Summer grinned at Seth before throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him. "Thank you, thank you. I thought I was going to be stuck with them all night."

"How did they even end up here? I didn't think they were capable of going to any place besides a shopping mall."

"Marissa and Taylor brought them here, then conveniently disappeared. You would think they would be nice to me or something."

"I'm sure Marissa and Taylor thought they were being nice to you. How, I don't really know. We already know that Marissa has a warped version of what is nice and helpful in life," Seth remarked, shrugging his shoulders as he collapsed on the couch, lying down. Summer did the same, resting her head on his chest, her legs thrown haphazardly across his. He folded her into his arms, kissing the top of her head. "I'm so tired."

"Me too," Summer mumbled, sighing contently. Seth folded her into his arms and they laid there together, not moving an inch. Both were too exhausted to move after the endless nights of no sleep. Plus, in Summer's case, Seth's chest was making an excellent pillow. It was only a matter of minutes before both had passed out into a very peaceful sleep, one of the best that they had had in the past few weeks.

* * *

"Sum, have you seen my tie?"

"It's right there," Summer replied, rubbing her eyes as she tried to focus on the room. She frowned, noticing that there were papers and random clothing strewn all over their kitchen. "What the hell happened in here?"

Seth looked around. "Uh, there's no where else to put my clothes."

"What happened to that wonderful invention called a closet?" Summer questioned as she sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. She immediately pulled a stack of papers out from underneath her butt, rolling her eyes. This was ridiculous.

"You took my closet," Seth replied, lifting a pile of clothes, looking for his good tie. "I really need a tie, Sum."

"Well, I can't make one magically appear for you. Sorry. You made this mess, you have to search through it."

"You're the reason that I had to throw my clothes everywhere. Oh…uh…here it is?" Seth held what he thought was his good tie up, though it was covered in some sort of unidentifiable substance. "Maybe I don't need to wear my good tie…."

Summer shook her head. "Cohen. We need to move."

"No, this place is working fine for us. I'll clean it up when I get home from work tonight," Seth muttered, grabbing another random tie.

"No, Cohen. We're moving. I can't live in this toy box any longer. I refuse to."

"All right, all right, we'll move." He waved his hand at her, distracted as he read a paper in front of him. "Did you see this? We need a new car. We should get this one."

Summer peered at the paper in front of him. "Cohen, that's an Audi."

"I know. It's really nice. And look, there's a refrigerator in it!"

"Did you see the start price?"

"Yea…it's not too bad."

"We're moving from this toy box, not buying an Audi."

Seth gasped excitedly. "I have the perfect solution! We can live in the Audi! I mean, after all, there's a refrigerator in there. We could probably fit comfortably in it. We don't need half of this crap we have in this apartment anyways."

"We're going to look at some bigger apartments this weekend," Summer said, handing him a mug of coffee and kissing his cheek.

"You mean we're going to go look at some Audis this weekend?" Seth asked with a cheeky grin on his face. "I bet Rylan would just love living in it. All of her friends would be jealous when she got older and found out that she was living in an Audi."

"Or they would all laugh at her for living in a car, even if it does have a refrigerator. Don't doom her to a childhood like yours before she even has a chance." She patted him sympathetically on the arm, smiling. He frowned at her. "Your mother and I had an intense discussion one day about your lonely past." She looked at the clock. "You're going to be late for work."

"Ugh, I'm going to have to talk to her about telling you things." He leaned forward, kissing her. "Though, I'm totally not the loser that I once was."

"Says the man who has comic books hidden underneath his bed."

Seth pulled away from her. "How did you know about that…?"

"It's not that difficult to pull them out from underneath the bed. Really, Cohen, if you want to hide something from me, find a better place to hide it."

He gave a nervous chuckle. "Don't look under the mattress then."

"As soon as you leave that's where I'll be looking." He kissed her again. "Cohen, you're going to be late for work."

"I know. It's not as if though I'll do anything important. Perhaps I'll look up the best Audi for us to live in?" he questioned with a smirk on his face.

"Just go to work," Summer said, a smile on her face as she shoved him towards the door. "And if you come home talking about living in an Audi again, I'll kick you out."

As soon as Seth was out of the apartment, Summer pulled out the phone book. She needed to make some calls because she really needed to get out of the toy box of an apartment.

* * *

Seth sighed as he looked at the papers spread in front of him. There were so many there, he didn't know which one to start looking at. He had to do it fast too, because he knew that Summer wouldn't be gone forever. She had taken Rylan to see her father, who had come in town to visit. Seth had opted not to go, considering he was going to be spending some time with him later.

But first, he needed to figure out what he was going to do. He had been hearing Summer's pleas for the past week and a half about finding a new place to live. He had known it was going to have to happen sooner rather than later. After all, Rylan was already almost a month old and was going to continue to grow. They couldn't live in that apartment forever. After all, it had never been his intention to stay there long. That had happened by a mistake.

He wanted to make everything right by finding the perfect place for them to live. He wanted to make everything up to Summer by finding her the home that she always wanted. The only problem with that was he knew it wasn't an apartment that she wanted. He knew that she wanted a nice house with a backyard where they could get a dog and Rylan could play when she got older. It was what he wanted too.

So that was why he was searching long and hard for a house. He had been looking since she had mentioned it, after she shot down his idea of the live-in Audi—which he still thought was the best choice yet. He was trying his hardest to find the perfect house and all the ones that he had looked at so far weren't the one that he could see them grow as a family.

He sighed. This was a lot harder than it seemed. Even though he had his parents helping him out, considering they had already agreed to help him out this, they hadn't been able to find a good one yet. He had the perfect house in mind, he just never knew if that was ever going to come into about.

He heard his cell phone ringing and he started frantically searching for it, unable to remember where he had put it in the disaster that was their living room. Finally he found it, answering it just in time.

After a brief conversation, a wide smile spread across his face. Finally, something was going right in his search. He grabbed his car keys and pulled on his jacket before rushing out of the apartment.

* * *

"It's perfect," Seth said, a smile spreading across his face. He looked back at his father and Ryan, who smiled at him, agreeing. It was everything he had wanted and then some.

It was a small, two bedroom house, perfect for a new family. There was a backyard that was bigger than he had even imagined. He had looked inside it and saw that it was all that Summer had wanted. She was going to absolutely love it.

"This is the house, Dad," he said.

Sandy nodded his head. "I think that she'll love it, Seth. This is great what you're doing."

Seth swallowed. He hadn't shared the rest of his plan with his father yet, afraid of what he was going to say about it. "Uh, so there's more to this plan than I had originally let on."

Behind Sandy, Ryan smirked. He was the only person who knew—well Taylor too, because Seth had poor timing. He was just shaking his head, laughing at the way that Seth was squirming as Sandy peered at him suspiciously.

"You're going to propose to her aren't you?"

"I…what?"

"You know, Seth, are you sure that this is the right decision to make? After all, you've only known her for a year and you've had so many problems with her."

Seth's face fell, though he was still confused about how the tables were suddenly turned. "I…you…how do you know that I want to propose to her? And…I think that we make a good couple."

Sandy's face broke into a smile. "Ryan told me last week, when you first brought it up. And I was just kidding around." He clapped his son on the back, pulling him into a hug. "I'm proud of you, son."

Seth's mouth dropped open in shock as he glared at Ryan. "Way to steal my thunder, man. The one time you actually open your mouth to talk you spoil my news."

Ryan shrugged his shoulders. "It just slipped out."

"Well, son, no matter who told me, I'm very proud of you. I think that this is the best decision you've made so far, after finally—"

"Pulling his head out of his ass?" Ryan suggested.

"Yes, if you would like to put it like that," Sandy nodded and Seth rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, guys. I guess I know who I should to when I need support for something."

Sandy patted Seth on the shoulder again. "Let's go buy you this house."

* * *

Seth fidgeted from one foot to the other, watching Neil's reaction. His heart was pounding a mile a minute and he thought that he was going to throw up from nerves. He couldn't believe that he had just asked Neil to let him marry his daughter.

Oh, he was definitely going to throw up.

"So, you want to marry, Summer," Neil stated thoughtfully, tapping his chin as he studied Seth. He squirmed under his glare, wondering if the outfit he had decided on had been too much.

"Uh, yes, s-sir. I love your daughter very, very much and I want to spend the rest of my life with her r-raising our daughter together," Seth stuttered. His throat suddenly felt ridiculously dry and his breathing was becoming uneven. He was close to hyperventilating. He caught the glare that Neil was sending him and he thought he was going to pass out right then and there. "Uh, s-s-sir."

Neil sat for a few minutes, obviously thinking about what Seth had just asked. He wiped his sweating hands on his pants, avoiding eye contact. Finally, Neil cleared his throat. Seth slowly raised his eyes to meet Neil's and was surprised to see a smile on his face.

"I would love for you to marry my daughter. I wasn't really too surprised. After all, you have it a little backwards, so I figured marriage was inevitable."

"You…you did?" He felt a big wave of relief washing over him.

"Yes," Neil nodded his head slowly. "But if you hurt her like you hurt her before, I can guarantee you'll regret it."

Seth swallowed and thought he was going to cry. Neil cracked a smile after seeing his reaction. "Just kidding!"

"Ha…ha…." Seth tried to laugh but found it sounded more like a cry. Neil smiled at him, clapping him on the back.

All he knew was that Summer better say yes to him or else this was all worth nothing.

* * *

Summer watched Seth's face triumphantly as they walked through the latest apartment. He had to like this one. This was the fifth apartment that they had looked at in two days and she was starting to grow restless. It was like he wanted them to stay at the apartment that they had. He had found something wrong with every single one and she couldn't understand why. They were all perfect in her opinion.

"So…what do you think of this one?" she questioned.

He scrunched his nose up. "Honestly…what do I think of it? Well, the paint is ugly and I hate the layout. And…"

Summer let out a frustrated sigh as he continued on with things that were wrong. It was the same list that he had been giving for every apartment. She was about to pull her hair out.

"I don't think we can take this apartment, we're sorry." He flashed the woman an apologetic look, then grabbed Summer's hand. She wrenched it from his grasp, glaring at him. "Come on, Sum, let's go."

"What the hell is your problem, Cohen?" Summer burst out as soon as they had left the apartment. He just shrugged his shoulders as he climbed into the car. "Can you not like reject every apartment?"

"They're just not good enough for us," Seth replied, starting the car. "I don't see any of them being our new home."

Summer let out a frustrated noise, crossing her arms over her chest. "Let's just go home to Rylan. I'm sure your parents want to be relieved of their duties."

Seth let out a small snicker but stopped when Summer glared at him. He started driving though he wasn't driving home. He was going to bring her to their new house and hope that he hadn't pissed her off so much that she was too annoyed to say yes to him.

"Cohen, what are you doing?! In case you haven't realized, this is the wrong way to our apartment."

"I know," he replied, looking at her with a smirk.

"Where are you bringing me?"

"It's a surprise."

They sat in silence as they started driving through a neighborhood. Summer looked at all of the houses on the street and Seth could tell that he had caught her attention. He pulled into the driveway of one home—their new home—immediately rushing over to open the door for Summer and help her out. She looked around, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Where are we?"

"You'll find out." He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the house, barely able to contain his excitement.

They walked into the living room and Summer gasped. It was…perfect. As soon as she walked inside she knew that it was everything that she wanted.

"This is the living room," Seth told her, gently pulling her along. "And this is the kitchen." He led her back to the small staircase and led her up the stairs. He pushed one door open and heard her gasp. It was a smaller room, decorated in pink, a crib set up in the corner. "This would be Rylan's room…and this." He led her back out of the room into another room. "This would be our room."

She looked around, her mouth wide open in shock. "Wh-what is this?"

"It's a house."

"I see that but why would you bring me here you asshat!?" Summer hit him on the arm, then stalked down the stairs. He stood, dumbfounded, trying to figure out what just happened, before he ran down after her, trying to figure out what was going on.

She stood in the middle of the living room, looking at the room around her. He stopped behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder. She swirled around and he immediately saw tears in her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" he was immediately alarmed. He never thought she was going to have a reaction quite like this. It was already going badly and he hadn't even proposed yet.

"We can't get this. I mean, unless suddenly you got a huge raise or whatever and you just decided not to tell me about it. We would be better off buying the Audi and living in it."

"Uh, Sum…."

"I mean, honestly, Cohen, of all the asshole things you've done since I've known you, this one is almost the worst!" She started pacing across the living room, sending him nasty glares every once in a while.

"Summer!"

"I cannot believe you."

"Summer!"

She stopped, turning around to look at him, her eyes hard. When she saw what he was holding in his hands, they softened immediately, staring at him.

"Wh-what is this?"

He walked towards her, the box that held her engagement ring inside of it. "Sum, this would be an engagement ring." He swallowed, taking a step away from her, just in case she punched him. There was always that fear. "I want to marry you Summer. I love you so much and even though we've had our ups and downs and have only really been dating for a few months, I've fallen in love with you. I have absolutely no regrets about any of this. I want us to be married so we can be a real family with Rylan. In this house." He gestured around him. "It's ours, Sum. As soon as you say yes, this house is ours to live in."

She stood in front of him, dumbfounded for a minute. Then she launched herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. She pulled away from him and he saw the tears streaming down her face.

"Yes, Cohen, you ass, I'll marry you."

"Ah, what a way to accept a proposal," Seth muttered.

"Shut up and kiss me."

* * *

Summer laid with her head resting on Seth's chest, staring at the ring on her finger. It was so beautiful. She couldn't believe that she was engaged and they were going to move into their own house. A house. Not a toy box apartment. She was bursting with happiness.

"Are you happy?" Seth whispered, kissing the top of her head.

"Of course," she replied. "I'm so so so happy."

"I'm glad." He sat there in silence, thinking about where they had come from. He wrapped his arms around her tighter. "I love you, Sum."

"I love you too, Cohen." She yawned, turning her face into his chest. "This has been such an eventful day."

"I know."

"I couldn't be happier, Cohen. Thank you for…for everything." She kissed him again before snuggling into his chest.

He watched as she slowly fell asleep and he agreed with her. He couldn't be happier than he was. Everything that had happened to them had happened for a reason. The reason was so that they could be together for the rest of their lives. He felt his heart flutter with excitement and happiness with what was going to come next in their lives. He loved spending every minute of their life together, with their daughter and he couldn't wait to see what else their lives together had in store.

Summer was thinking along the same lines as she closed her eyes, her ideas blurred by all of the excitement of the day. Her life was finally becoming exactly what she had wanted it to be. Seth hadn't always been what she wanted but now, he was the only one she wanted.

With ideas of what was going to happen with their future dancing in both of their heads, they slowly drifted off to dreamland.


	20. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own The O.C.

A/N-So here is the epilogue to this story. I wrote it mainly just to give you all a glance into their future life and I hope that everyone enjoys it. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for those who took the time to review, especially those who kept up with this all the way through. I really appreciate it!!

* * *

"Cohen!"

Seth winced as he heard Summer call out his name. It definitely wasn't the tone of someone who was happy to see him. He looked at Rylan, now five years old and clutching tightly to his hand, who giggled when she heard her mother.

"Somebody's in trouble," she said in a sing song voice.

"Seth Cohen!"

"Oh, shit," he muttered, closing his eyes. He really needed to learn how to keep his mouth shut. Summer was going to kill him. Absolutely murder him. He might as well start saying his goodbyes to Rylan while he had the chance.

"Oh, Daddy, you said a bad word. I'm gonna tell Mommy."

"Rylan, please don't make this any worse for Daddy. You love me right?"

"Of course I do, Daddy." She rolled her eyes, tugging on his hand. He smiled at her, seeing her resemblance to Summer. She was absolutely her mother's daughter, through and through, right down to her mini rage blackouts. He loved both of his girls more than anyone else in his life.

He wasn't too sure how fond Summer was of him at that moment.

"So, Seth, you seem to be in big trouble." Marissa came up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He craned his neck to see how close Summer was to him and noticed that she was being held up by Taylor. He was going to have to thank her later for prolonging the impending harm that was to be caused to him.

He groaned. "I know. I need to stop opening my mouth."

"You really, really do," Marissa agreed. "I thought that you would have learned it after all this time with Summer."

"I can't help it, I'm excited." Seth shrugged his shoulders.

"I know you are but was it worth the wrath of Summer?"

Catching Summer's eye from across the room, he was starting to wonder if that was worth it. He gulped as she started to walk towards him. "Oh boy. Well, Marissa it was nice knowing you. Tell your date that he's a nice guy and that maybe he'll actually be the one you're going to be hang onto."

She rolled her eyes. "I doubt that but really, I think you have bigger problems to handle."

"Daddy, I want to dance," Rylan whined. "You promised me that we could dance and I want to! Right now!"

"Okay, I'm sorry, baby. Let's go dance." He scooped her up in his arms, her giggling while she did so. He walked to the dance floor, twirling her around in his arms. She laughed, her pink flower girl dress spiraling out around them.

"Dad, that's not dancing!" she exclaimed as she rolled her eyes, though she was still giggling.

"Oh, it isn't?" Seth questioned, looking around.

She rolled her eyes again. "Put me down. You're not doing it right."

He put her down on the dance floor and gestured to his shoes. "Hop on."

Rylan looked at him hesitantly and at everyone else on the dance floor. "Are you sure?"

"Of course, Rylan. I promise that we'll have lots of fun."

She finally grabbed his outstretched hands and slowly stepped on her father's feet. She made a face at him and he returned it, causing her to smile. He started moving his feet, causing the smile on her face to grow even larger.

"You're not a very good dancer, Daddy," Rylan remarked as he made his way around the dance floor.

"Hey, Rylan, I am an excellent dancer. I used to be a dancing champ. You missed out on my prime ballroom dancing years, as they, of course, were before you were even born. I've tamed it down a little since you were born."

Rylan tipped her head to the side, staring up at her father. "Mommy told me that you were a nerd who played video games in your room all day."

Seth's face fell as Rylan started to giggle. He shook his head as he caught Summer's eye. She was getting closer to them and still had the same angry look on her face. He could tell that she had picked up her pace and was dodging all of the people trying to stop to talk to her.

Upon getting closer to the two and seeing them dancing together, Seth noticed the hardened look on her face turning much softer. He smiled to himself, always knowing that her seeing the two of them together caused Summer's anger to dissipate.

"Rylan, sweetie, can I dance with your dad now?"

Rylan peered up at her mother, thinking about this for a few seconds. "I guess you can." She wrapped his arms around her father. "Thank you Daddy, I love you." She then turned to her mother. "By the way, Daddy said shit."

"Rylan!"

"What?" she looked at her parents innocently, smiling as she rocked back and forth. "Daddy said it and you don't want Daddy to say those words."

"Next time, Rylan, you can just tell me that he said a bad word," Summer reprimanded, leaning down and kissing her daughter's cheek. "Go find Marissa, she has a present for you."

Rylan's eyes lit up. "Bye!"

The two parents laughed as they watched their daughter run away. For a minute, Seth thought Summer was going to forget about what he had accidentally let out. Then he saw her face and knew that she wasn't going to forget.

He grabbed her and started dancing, much to her protests. "Summer, have I mentioned how much I love you in white?"

She rolled her eyes. "There's no way you can get out of this one, Cohen. I told you not to say anything!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Today has just been such a wonderful day. Aside from the day that Rylan was born and maybe the day we first met…except of course, that one might rank a little more if I actually remembered it. But that aside, I just there's so much excitement surrounding this day that it just slipped out."

"But, Cohen, you promised that you weren't going to say anything until we got back from our honeymoon," Summer remarked, though the angry was no longer flashing in her eyes.

"But we're married," he said, his smile growing wider. He leaned in and kissed her. "We're finally married Sum. And we're having another baby."

She met his smile and he knew that anger that she had was now totally gone. This day had been a long time coming—five years coming. They had been dealt many obstacles throughout their relationship that prevented it from happening. From money issues, a brief (read: two weeks) break up, the death of her father, and his mother falling ill, the time hadn't been right. But now, everything in their life was perfect.

Summer pulled herself closer to him, resting her head against his chest. "I love you, Cohen. I guess I forgive you for telling everyone that we're having another baby."

"They're all happy for us. Did you see my mom's face? I think this is the best news she's heard in a while. I don't think I could keep it from her much longer."

She nodded her head, sighing. She knew that his mother's illness had affected Seth more than he would ever admit. Maybe it was a good thing that he had told her tonight. It was, after all, turning out to be the perfect night.

She cast a glance over at Rylan, who was telling Marissa a story excitedly. She smiled as she watched her daughter. She had grown so much in five years. She couldn't believe how quickly the years had passed. It seemed like yesterday that she was finding out she was pregnant, trying to find Seth's name in the phone book. Tears started slowly spilling from her eyes and she sniffled, trying to hide it from Seth.

"What's wrong?" he questioned, pulling back from her so he could see her face.

"Nothing…it's just…it's just…Rylan's getting so big!"

Seth stared for a minute, trying to figure out if she was serious or not. When he noticed that the tears were still falling from her eyes, he knew she was serious. "Okay, well, Summer, it's a natural part of life. Babies grow up. And Rylan is a fantastic little girl. We really lucked out with her."

"I know, but we're leaving her for a two whole weeks! That's two weeks without seeing her! What if something exciting happens in school and we're not there to see it or—"

Seth put his finger to her lips, trying to silence her. "Shh, Sum, we don't have to go if you don't want to. We can stay here with Rylan. I have no problem with that, you know that."

"No, no I want to go." She took a deep breath, trying to get control of her emotions. "I was just…it's been a long, emotional day. I was thinking about when I first found out I was pregnant and how Rylan is so grown up now."

Seth leaned in and kissed her gently. "Summer, just think, we're going to have another baby now too. So, those nights where we would get no sleep? Yea, we get those again. And this time…this time, this pregnancy will be better. I promise I'm going to be there for you completely. None of what happened before will happen again."

She kissed him now and clung onto him. This was perfect. Her life was everything she wanted it to be, despite everything that had happened. It was perfect.

She heard Rylan before she saw her and turned to see her daughter running towards them, a large smile on her face. "Mommy, look what Marissa gave me!" She pointed to the necklace she was now wearing, showing it off to them. "Me and Marissa are going to have so much fun, Mommy! When do you leave?"

Summer's face fell and Seth held back his laugh. Rylan looked at her parents, tapping her foot impatiently. "Mom? She already promised to take me shopping a lot! When do you leave?"

"We leave tomorrow morning, sweetie."

"Can I spend tonight with Marissa? Please? Then I can shop tomorrow!

"But…Rylan sweetie, we're going to be gone for two weeks. Don't you want to spend it with us?"

Rylan just shrugged her shoulders. "Nah. I want to shop!" She turned and ran back to Marissa, leaving a stunned Summer behind. Seth just shook his head and laughed, then kissed her again. She rested her head against his chest again, sighing.

"Well, I guess she's not going to miss us too much," Seth snickered though he quickly stopped when Summer pinched his arm. "Ow, Sum. That hurt."

"Oh well," she shrugged, though a smile was tugging at her lips. "I love you, Cohen. Thank you for everything."


End file.
